The Multifunctional Eatery in Yorknew City
by Yuyao
Summary: In the large metropolitan city of Yorknew, there is an entirely Hunter-owned restaurant business... but it's actually more than just that. There's the fools that work there, for one. :D [Original story. Gourmet Hunters. Five OCs, with possible canon-character appearances.]
1. The Building, Business, and the Owner

**[Hello. This is a fanfic involving Gourmet Hunters that may or may not be a (short) series, since I've noticed that I haven't seen absolutely _any_ Hunter x Hunter fanfiction material with Gourmet Hunters (excluding Menchi) probably due to the lack of interest in them. That actually saddens me because cooking is in my main interests, and the entire concept of the Gourmet Hunters was entirely thrilling to me. **

**To make things clear here: Because I am not very good with handling canon-characters, the protagonist(s) will all be original characters. (Though, the idea of the four main characters of Hunter X Hunter cooking does sound like an interesting plot.) There most likely will not be any romance or pairings. S** **ince this is about Gourmet Hunters, there will mainly be a lot of cooking action and ingredient hunting. Lastly, because I am a jokester, this is going to be humorous.** **I don't expect to receive many reviews (or views for that matter) because of these and I am fine with that.**

 **The first two or so chapters (including this one) will be introducing certain key factors, and I expect the other chapters to _not_ have relating/connecting storylines unless explained otherwise or if I change my mind.**

 **Please do keep in mind that this is my first piece of _serious_ fanfiction, as well as my first piece of fanfiction on this site.**

 **Also, I'm very sorry for this long introduction, but I wanted to clear up a few things. Enjoy.]**

* * *

Somewhere in Eastern Yorknew City seated a large structure with many floors. It appeared to be newly constructed as it had a creative, fresher, and recently developed design. The building definitely stood out since it was full of color, plus there weren't any other buildings in its section of the street other than banks.

The building was said to have originally been intended as a coffee shop to relax at for the folks who worked for or came from the various banks. However, nobody acquired it. Not even a coffee shop chain like Moonbucks bothered purchasing it.

…Or at least not fast enough.

When the structure was bought out, it was turned into a restaurant. But not only that, it was also a bakery, a shop, as well as a hangout spot. The business quickly rose in status, and just like the city itself – It almost never slept. It was even open during and after the midnight hours.

The place was named " _The Scirocco_ " – a name that aspired to be attractive to not only the average person, but to fellow Hunters and tourists, too.

The person who owned the property was a wealthy Gourmet Hunter who truly loved their job; their passion.

Relvin.

Relvin was a tall, pumpkin-orange skinned woman in her early twenties. She had long, elven-like ears with mustard colored eyes and honeydew pale-green hair. If she hadn't been born with a humanoid form, then surely she would have been a fruit or vegetable of some sort, or so she was told by her fellow employees and customers. A day that didn't involve being productive with edibles did not exist for her; she lived and breathed food.

Relvin's Hunter License wasn't there just for show, however. She certainly did her job as a Gourmet Hunter – find and collect rare ingredients, then incorporate them into new dishes. She may not have been one of the finest Gourmet Hunters like Menchi, but she and her business were certainly making way in the world of Hunters.

She had redesigned the entire interior of Sirocco to contain numerous kitchens, a small shop area, several dining areas, and a bakery with treats on display. The building was also her home, surprisingly enough, however not many were aware of that. The upstairs sections served as her living space (which extended to five other floors). To be as close to her business as possible – even if it meant living in it – was a decision she made prior to acquiring the property.

Relvin had also assigned four other employees to work along with her – all being fellow Gourmet Hunters. The key was to hire the fewest folks necessary.

The Scirocco was everything to Relvin. But like everything in the world, it came with its disadvantages. Since the business almost never slept, she would often lose hours of sleep. Because she was a Gourmet Hunter, not only did she have competition with other chefs' restaurants, but with other Gourmet Hunters as well. Hunting for rare ingredients sometimes proved to be very difficult, too. There were smaller factors included, however they mainly joined together to create stress.

…The cons that came with having a multifunctional nourishment business could be taxing sometimes, but Relvin started her business knowing that she would have to handle all of it.

And she would and will continue to do so.

* * *

 **[Note(s): I intended for the name _"Relvin"_ to be a unisex name, with Relvin/Relven being the more masculine side and Relvyn/Relvyne/Relvynn being the feminine, but I also felt like a name with '-yn,' '-yne,' and '-yne' didn't really flow with the Hunter x Hunter universe, so I'm sorry if it still seems out of place. ... Oh, and I have a slight obsession with using commas, but I'm working on it. Sorry for that.**

 **Moonbucks = What would be the Hunter x Hunter version of Starbucks (I invented it, though, so spare me for that. There's going to be a _lot_ more like that one.)]**


	2. A Busy Night, Sections, and the Workers

[ **This chapter is mainly to introduce what wasn't presented in the chapter prior to this one. Just like the last, it is written in third-person past tense. While I intend to keep it in third person (of course, unless stated otherwise), I'm not sure if the chapters after this one will remain in past tense - I recently experimented writing in present tense form and it actually turned out fine, so there is a chance that I may want to incorporate writing in that style here.**

 **I am also excited, yet slightly bashful to see that a person who made a fanfic I favor is following this one... Thank you!** **So I'll try and do my best to please. Enjoy!]**

* * *

The weather was calm with the sky being a dark shade of blue. It was already eight o'clock at night and the moon had already begun rising – though it appeared to be a faint crescent then. The busy city of Yorknew still had many businesses open, and lots of lights from buildings could be seen accompanied by the sweet, sweet sounds of traffic.

The Scirocco was open, of course, and inside it was busy as ever. Combining all of the rooms in the building, a room and three whole dining rooms were filled with an additional two lounges full. Thankfully, the rooms and walkways were spacious enough that the atmosphere wasn't suffocating.

Inside one of the dining areas contained a figure serving up non-dairy treats and non-meat 'meat' products; the Vegetarian and Vegan section of the restaurant. The person appeared to be rather short in height with long, red hair and big, lime-green eyes.

"Here you go." the figure said in a sweet feminine voice. They placed down two thick paper cups of non-dairy ice cream onto a table two people accompanied – one vanilla, one chocolate, as well as two plastic spoons that were conveniently piercing through the top scoops. "Let me know if you need anything else or have any concerns."

"Thank you, little lady!" one of the two people seated at the table exclaimed.

The 'little lady' smiled and waved to the customers before heading back into the kitchen to serve another table. A nametag revealed to be pinned onto her uniform vest read 'Naveru.'

* * *

In another section of the building, a man in his twenties was ringing up products and bagging them with ease at a near-ridiculous speed. Many of the customers found the sight to be amusing and watched with awe. It seemed like despite the slightly intimidating line, nobody was bored, or even cared for that matter – the line was moving at such a swift pace.

Ah, the mini shop of the building.

"Excuse me sir," a young lady who was the first person in line asked, "I'm literally thirty Jennies from being able to purchase everything…" She was searching her wallet, but all she had was paper money with no coins of a smaller amount.

"Looks like you have a problem there." The man who had just finished completely bagging her products kindly answered.

All of a sudden – and like a cheesy holiday movie miracle – nearly everyone in line dug into their wallets and held up small coins that would help pay the difference for the young lady's total purchase.

"Here, sir. Accept my change so that this mademoiselle will be able to buy the items she needs." an older woman directly behind the young lady said.

"N-No!" somebody else protested. It was a college student. "Take mine instead. This nice elderly woman shouldn't have to have the burden of paying off the difference, even if it is just a little!"

A little girl started jumping up and down in line, desperate to be seen. "No, me! Me! Pick me!"

"Oh dear." said the man at the counter. He then chuckled.

"It's alright everyone, really. She gets ten percent off when she uses her rewards card here, so you can all put your change away."

The young lady's awkward expression suddenly turned into a comical, eye-bulging-out one. "W-WHAT?!"

The entire line became static and did a double take before the sounds of palms slamming against faces could be heard… and seen. Apparently she had no idea that she possessed such a card, or that it gave her such benefits.

The man behind the counter chuckled – in all honesty trying to hold back a guffaw. He then quickly swiped her rewards card on her keychain holder and she was given some change. "Have a nice day, ma'am."

The young lady had to laugh too, "Thank you so much, sir. You have a good day as well!" She took her shopping bags and exited toward the left.

 _It's rather nice to see philanthropic efforts from lots of people, especially in a place and city like this one_ , the man thought, _I wonder if it's the atmosphere of this building?_

"May I help the next person in line?" he asked aloud.

 _No… Maybe it's this necklace!_ He flashed a quick goofy grin before the elderly woman who was next in line could notice, then proceeded to collect and bag her goods at the swift pace from before.

The man had eggplant-purple hair with deep orange eyes. Like his hair, his skin was purple but of a much lighter shade – lavender, and he had the exact same long elven-like ears Relvin possessed. Judging by the more 'abnormal' features he had, he looked similar to a video game character from a demon race.

In his shirt vest tucked beneath his tie was a small indigo gem, Lapis Lazuli. It was quite obvious that he believed in good fortune and luck. Above the necklace and on his vest, though, was a nametag that said 'Bakk-Tiel.'

* * *

In the bakery, a woman was working on making cupcakes. Eighteen were required in order to fulfill a certain number of tables' requests.

"I wonder if you're supposed to use muffin pans in order to make cupcakes…?" she asked herself as she looked through the baking supplies.

 _Maybe Relvin would know about that…_

The woman had shoulder-length gray hair with hot-pink eyes, similar to that of a Cripps Pink apple. She was very, very, _very_ tall that she could probably rival a male basketball player, and appeared to be in her late twenties. She was wearing a uniform with a clean apron tied over it.

The only odd thing about her attire was probably the fact that she pinned her nametag to side of a garter on her knee-high stockings, and as her skirt was just short enough to hug her thighs, the nametag was definitely noticeable. It read 'Alanessa.'

The woman had actually done an online search on her phone by then and found out that a muffin pan _was_ in fact used for making cupcakes.

"Interesting. We used to bake them in actual cups at home." she said to herself.

She then proceeded to grab twelve muffins that had already been made two hours before. _Since a muffin is basically just a nude cupcake_ , she thought to herself as she grabbed several piping bags – each filled with different icing flavors, _I can just decorate them like this and serve them._

After successfully managing to cover the each of the muffin tops with frosting, she decorated some of the muffins-turned-cupcakes with sprinkles and placed them onto a large colorful plate.

 _I hope they won't mind waiting for the six other ones._

* * *

"Relvin! Relvin!" a voice called out from one kitchen to another.

Relvin was in the other kitchen being called, however she was quite preoccupied with steaming some vegetables and making meat patties for two different parties.

"Relvin!"

Once she was finished rolling dough, she wiped off her hands on her apron. She headed for the kitchen on the other side, and as she passed by the dining room that separated them, she waved to some of the people there.

"Alright, what happened here?" she asked. She noticed the place was almost covered in fog.

"Somehow, I actually managed to set the stove on fire. Amazing, right?" a masculine voice replied. Relvin couldn't see them clearly thanks to the building up fog that was actually smoke, but she knew who they were.

"You forgot to open the windows yet again, Zerik." Relvin answered plainly. She made sure to open them, though. "The fire has been distinguished, right?"

"Of course!" the voice that belonged to the 'Zerik' person responded. Thanks to the windows being open and the ceiling fans being in operation, the smoke was clearing, albeit slowly.

Relvin then asked, "Did you need assistance in anything other than help with the mini kitchen fire?"

"Nah, that'll be it. Thanks."

Zerik stepped out of the smoke-filled kitchen with two large plates in both hands. He appeared to be about Relvin's age and height, with long midnight blue hair that was forced into a ponytail – probably due to the working conditions. His eyes were fudge-brown and oddly enough, one part of his uniform shirt had a long sleeve yet the other was short. …That and the fact that his nametag read 'Zekir' instead of 'Zerik' – courtesy of a certain shorty who also worked there, Naveru.

"Alright then. I have other orders I need to take care of, so I'll be heading back." Relvin said from the kitchen. She then returned to the one on the other side.

A small nod came from Zerik before he began to serve a party of five. The members at the table gasped once they looked upon the food on the two plates – a large ham decorated with its own honeyed gravy and pineapple to compliment the sweet taste, with the other being a massive salmon dish garnished with lettuce, limes, rosemary, and lemon. It seemed to be the party's first time eating at The Scirocco, and surely they didn't regret giving the restaurant a shot.

"Enjoy your meal." Zerik said as he gave a wave and headed back into the kitchen. Once he was there, he chuckled with a comical expression and a hand over his mouth.

 _Wait until they see the bill._

* * *

And thus was another lovely night at the Scirocco, located deep inside of the eastern section of Yorknew City.

* * *

 **[Yes, this chapter was probably nothing special if you're not a fan of slow-paced things (though I do enjoy those), but it was mainly to introduce the other characters. Hopefully the next chapters will be more interesting!]**


	3. An Egg, a Dish, and the Results

**[I don't believe I have anything interesting to place here without giving away information about the chapter. So instead, enjoy!]**

* * *

"Quick! Catch it!"

"Urgh… This is tough, you know?"

"Reel 'em in!"

"No, go defend the nest!"

A familiar group of five were engaging in a small feud over which role belonged to whom. They were apparently trying to catch a one-winged bird that was rather colossal in size. Naveru was 'attacking' it in attempt to distract it, while Relvin and Zerik were trying to pull it closer with some sort of sturdy rope. Due to a poorly constructed plan, however, it was turning out to be a nightmare. Alanessa and Bakk-Tiel, who were at the strange bird's nest, could only shake their heads in disapproval.

 _I knew I shouldn't have agreed to this…_ the two of them thought.

Naveru grabbed onto the bird's wing before she was pecked on the head several times. As a result, she tumbled back onto a large branch.

"WHAT'S THE POINT IN ATTACKING IT TO KEEP IT AWAY FROM THE NEST IF YOU TWO ARE TRYING TO BRING IT CLOSER?!" she yelled.

The yell startled both Zerik and Relvin, causing them to let go of the other end of the rope. The large one-winged bird let out one last cry before it flew out of the large tree and into the skies.

"Damn it! Naveru!" Zerik yelled back.

"This is all because of the half-baked orders given," Naveru said, "And it's YOUR fault!" She pointed to Relvin.

Relvin laughed. "Look on the bright side, at least we frightened it enough to keep it away from its own nest."

Alanessa swung down from the higher branch and added, "Strange… Why would it leave its nest defenseless at a time like this?"

"More importantly, how does it fly with only one wing?!" asked Bakk-Tiel, who was quite bewildered yet at the same time intrigued.

"Let's not worry about that and just grab these eggs before their mother returns!" Naveru exclaimed. She then flipped onto the massive branch containing the nest and picked up an egg. Albeit being the size of a roll of tissue, the eggs were very heavy.

That caught Naveru off guard, so when she grabbed a second one and tried to stand up straight, she ended up tripping and falling off of the branch and out of the tree entirely.

"NAVERU!" the other four shouted in unison.

The shorty screamed for her life.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

* * *

"So in the end… We were only able to collect one egg." Bakk-Tiel stated in disappointment.

Naveru was still shivering slightly. Apparently she had fallen into an extremely cold river. "Don't look at me, blame that carrot for giving us such vague information!"

Everyone glared at Relvin.

"…Next time, I'll think about a plan the day before I decide to put it to the test." Relvin responded in defeat.

Sitting in the middle of their circle was an egg from the nest of the one-winged bird. It was the only egg they managed to collect and it looked pitiful. It had several lumps with the shape resembling an _egg_ -xaggerated oval, even for an egg…

"No…. I don't think you can serve that." Alanessa was nudging it.

It fell over on the grass.

"…"

It wouldn't even roll.

"Yeah, we definitely can't serve this." said Alanessa, reaffirming her statement.

Zerik nearly struggled to ask, "W-W-What are we going to tell the foodies from the Association, then?!"

"'Oh, we're so sorry. We were unable to retrieve the precious Gwauli eggs you wanted to document, and it's all thanks to a mandarin orange whose brain is also an orange with an additional three boneheads.'" Naveru quoted with a mocking tone.

"Actually, you'd be included as an additional bonehead too since you work with us." Relvin reassured.

Bakk-Tiel peeked at his watch. "I'd really love to express my distaste for this failed 'mission' as well, however we literally only have an hour left until the business opens again."

The others gasped, except for Alanessa – who seemed unfazed.

"Let's bring the egg anyway. It's worth a shot." she said, picking the egg up before placing it on her palm. In a matter of only seconds it seemed to disappear completely.

"Even though you said it couldn't possibly be served," Zerik sneered, "Well, it is worth a shot. The foodies will get what they want. It'll just be, er, … A little different than what they were expecting."

The group exchanged laughter.

 _It's been quite some time since we've all gathered to go on a hunt together like this_ , Relvin thought as she smiled sweetly.

Then, they all stood up straight and prepared to head back… Except for Naveru. She was still cold and shivering.

"I... I can't walk back!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, that's right. She's still soaked." Bakk-Tiel recalled.

Everyone seemed confused on how to bring the little lady with them, so Relvin suggested to carry her on her back.

Naveru refused, sticking her tongue out.

"Naveru, we really don't have time for this. The walk back is thirty minutes long." said a partially annoyed Alanessa.

"Why can't Bakk-Tiel ask his chauffeur to pick us up?" Zerik asked.

The purple man shook his head wildly. "Don't even think about it!" He seemed embarrassed about it for some odd reason…

Alanessa let out a sigh.

Meanwhile, Relvin noticed that Naveru seemed to be staring in Zerik's direction with a sinister grin plastered across her face. It was rather difficult not to see.

"Zerik… I believe she is looking for your assistance." Relvin pointed out.

Naveru's wicked demeanor instead turned into a stunned one. _Damn, I'm caught!_

Zerik stared at the shorty, knowing she had evil intentions. "…Why me?"

It became silent.

"Fine…" Zerik sighed. He felt like he was going to regret helping her later on…

"Appear before this mark and fulfill your duty; this is an order! Edeidus!"

In a few seconds, a serpent with large wings appeared to grow above Zerik's arm. It was rather small and skinny…

Naveru chortled before she walked over to the creature and sat on its back… somehow.

Relvin, Bakk-Tiel, and Alanessa watched in horror as the poor winged snake tried to carry the small lady before heading in the direction of their destination.

"It's been a while since I've seen a basilisk." Bakk-Tiel admitted.

"Y-Yeah…" Relvin agreed, "Zerik, are you sure your miniature winged beast can carry her?"

Zerik put a finger to his chin. "If she hasn't gained much weight over the past few months, then Edeidus should be fine."

Naveru glared at him once she heard the response, "Gained weight? I'd be more concerned about your snake if I were you. This thing looks like it has been starved!"

Her retort was followed by a smack in the nose by the basilisk, and everyone else couldn't help but laugh at her. She rubbed her nose in slight embarrassment and annoyance. _Well, what do you know…_

* * *

It was ten minutes until The Scirocco would officially open again, and the workers there couldn't help but feel a tad bit nervous. A group of 'foodies' – as Zerik referred to them – would be sent from the Hunter Association any time soon to sample and eventually document the egg of the one-winged Gwauli. They were a newly developed species of lab-created birds and recently released to the public, so up until then, nobody really bothered using their eggs for food because of their small population. Relvin the impatient, however, suggested that her business become the first to do so.

Thus, a plan had been arranged between the Gourmet Hunter and the Hunter Association, with a contract signed to ensure that if Relvin and her group successfully obtained the egg(s) of a Gwauli and triumphantly incorporated it into a unique dish, her company would be the first as well as the only to distribute and serve the eggs for the first few months – of course after the Gwauli population increased.

Alanessa finished wiping off the front doors with a smile. She was confident that they could make something wonderful out of the egg, even if it was just one.

"First of all," Zerik was explaining, "they're going to be upset over the fact that there's only one little egg and we'll lose points just for that!"

"The egg isn't that small. Plus, we can split it into however many portions necessary." Relvin protested.

Bakk-Tiel added, "And if mandatory, we can just add filler to it like vegetables or breadcrumbs. They'll be filled with just those before they even get to the eggs."

"Wouldn't we lose points for that as well?" Naveru asked. "I mean, the star of the show is the egg; not the vegetables or breadcrumbs."

Relvin squinted.

"What do you think, Al?"

Alanessa disposed of a dirty rag before she answered, "I believe that whatever happens, the result will be just fine."

"I mean, the worst case scenario would be Relvin being stripped of her title as a Gourmet Hunter," the tall woman continued.

The four others began to stare at her in horror.

"Then lose her business along with her wealth,"

Relvin gasped!

"And her chance of ever working in the food industry ever again. But despite all of that, we'd still be her friends, no?" Alanessa formed a mysterious smile that only she could ever create. The remainders of the group held back their urges to glare at her.

"I-I can't work under someone who isn't going to pay me!" a certain shorty yelled.

"You wouldn't have a job." responded Alanessa.

"…"

"..."

"…"

"Certainly, the conditions couldn't be that harsh, could they…?" Bakk-Tiel asked, mainly to himself.

Relvin was about to bang her head onto a table until she noticed the time.

"Oh no! It's already nine in the morning! Places, everyone!"

Zerik asked, "When are these foodies showing up anyway?"

"Supposedly at nine-thirty before the early morning traffic." Relvin calmly answered.

Naveru pouted. "Well that gives us not only the time to cool off, but to think about what egg dish we can possibly create."

All five nodded, then headed to their respective areas for the morning.

This time, Zerik was in the bakery, Relvin was handling the store, Bakk-Tiel with the vegetarian and vegan cuisines, Alanessa in the 'main' kitchens, and Naveru was…. On janitor duty.

"I hate this." she stated as she began to mop up the floors of a bathroom.

* * *

Thirty minutes and seven customers later, an expensive looking limousine was beginning to pull up. Probably realizing that parking directly in front of the building was prohibited – unless you were an employee – the limousine moved into a parking lot, which obviously wasn't free.

Relvin could feel a chill move up and down her spine simultaneously as she stood at the entrance. It wasn't a good feeling for her.

 _No, I must be confident in my culinary abilities. Besides, this isn't the first time something like this is happening, plus I've already come this far…_ she thought to herself.

So she stood up straight and tall, then put on a genuine smile.

 _I hope the others are fully prepared._

As Relvin removed herself from her thoughts, she noticed that a few entities clad in formal black suits were approaching the doors. She politely opened them to lift the burden off of them – because surely, they were in for a surprise.

"Good morning." One of the suit-clad figures' greeted, "Are you Relvin Onoivia?"

Relvin nodded in response. "Yes, this is her."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Neleres Alonli and I'm a connoisseur of good food hired by the Association." The man talking to her held out his hand to reveal a Hunter License. He swiftly put it away after some time and they shook hands.

"So I've heard."

"Let me introduce the three others I've brought along with me." Neleres then said as he cleared his throat.

As he began to speak, a woman stepped forward. She seemed to be carrying a large bag.

"This is Sumire Masato. She will serve as the photographer today."

Sumire grinned. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too." Relvin bowed.

Another person stepped forward; a man shorter than her with inquisitive turquoise eyes and peach-orange hair. "Hello!"

"This is going to be the person who will document the food as well as any useful information on the dish you've created. His name is Cias Sicol." Neleres presented.

Cias and Relvin shook hands. "Nice to meet you."

Lastly, there was another man who was taller than the last one, with salsa-red hair and purple eyes.

"And this is Eris Pent. He is here to check your dish for possible things such as poisons, whether its fully cooked or not, the ideal meal temperature – subjects of that sort."

Eris bowed. "It's a pleasure to be able to work with you today, _Relvin_."

Relvin smiled, though she did feel a like it was a little odd that he exaggerated her name at the end of his sentence. It felt as if he was mocking her.

 _I hope these folks aren't all supercilious…_

"It's a pleasure to be able to work with all of you."

The four Hunters then nodded and stepped away. It seemed like they needed alone time to go over some things. While that happened, Relvin served tea to a customer who had entered the building during the short conversation. She was glad her team managed to make it back to at least fix up warm tea and coffee.

 _Naveru's En would have sensed these four when they entered the building. I'm sure she has informed the others about it._

She smiled. The chance to get to do this was nice, even if it wasn't her first time. She began to think of all of the benefits that would come out of it when…

"Pardon us, Miss Onoivia, but we are now ready to begin." It was the voice of Sumire, who had been setting up several of her cameras during the short wait.

"Alright." Relvin replied.

 _Let's see… Usually, they want to capture photos of the place and videos of key moments like cooking…_ she recalled.

"Shall I show you around the building?"

The four seemed to consider this for a while before they came to agreement. Sumire seemed especially excited about it, even if she was trying to keep a professional demeanor.

"Alright. This room we are currently in is one of the lounges, actually." Relvin began to explain, "It's the largest one out of all of them and usually where I serve lighter foods such as tea or biscuits to customers."

The photographer woman made sure to capture many different pictures of the room, though she did ask Relvin to help with adjusting the lighting. The culinary genius accepted.

The suit-clad Hunters were then led into a dining room following the lounge.

"This room is.…"

* * *

Meanwhile, Naveru had already finished up 'janitor duty' and was in the bakery, for she switched Zerik – meaning he was now in one of the main kitchens with Alanessa. She had only received very few customers there, though, so she made herself the coffee she craved all morning.

"Ah~" she let out a strangely content sigh of relief, "That hit the spot~"

She began to reflect on her previous actions along with her behavior and shrugged. "It can't be helped. I'm always like that if I don't get my morning coffee."

She then spun out of the kitchen to tell the two customers in the bakery something important.

"Are you enjoying your meal?"

The two people nodded.

"Satisfied?"

They nodded again.

"Ah, well I'm here to inform you that I'll be off duty for a bit. To compensate, you are free to have any of the doughnuts on this shelf." She pointed out a small shelf filled with doughnuts that needed to be gone before noon. The table seemed pleased about that, especially a little boy who was sitting there.

Naveru smiled. _Well, off to the main kitchen._

* * *

When Naveru arrived in the main kitchen, she could see that Alanessa and Zerik, who had already been there, as well as Bakk-Tiel.

"…Which is strange since she typically acts kind and sweet."

"Yeah, and then there's that better side of her…"

The three seemed to be discussing something. As soon as Naveru stepped in, she already had it figured out.

"I-I just had to have my coffee today, okay?"

The three turned to her.

"Good morning, Naveru." greeted Alanessa with a small wave.

Naveru greeted back, however she felt like it was unnecessary.

"That coffee stuff is like a drug, isn't it?" Bakk-Tiel asked, but it was a question mainly for himself.

She had to agree a little. "I suppose. It's my own fault for liking it so much, though."

"So, have the foodies arrived yet?" asked Zerik.

Naveru nodded. "Yeah, my En sensed them not too long ago. It's just four people. They're probably interviewing Relvin right now."

"I could go check on them, if necessary." suggested Alanessa.

"No, I think it'll be fine." Naveru said, "If anything, let's check on the ingredients we have to make the dish Relvin suggested. Do you have the ingredients ready?"

"Yup!" Bakk-Tiel exclaimed. "For both parts of the dish, too!"

"Oh yeah, Zerik..." Naveru raised a hand before they gathered around a wooden table.

Zerik tilted his head. "Yes?"

"Thanks for that dragon ride earlier. Ededius, was it?"

Zerik laughed. "You're welcome, and that's _Edeidus_."

* * *

Relvin had shown the four suit-clad professionals many different sectors including the mini-shop, a few dining rooms along with their lounges, a pantry, and a kitchen she used mainly for herbs and soup. It required going upstairs and downstairs a few times, however she used it to stall time for her group just in case they weren't entirely finished preparing to meet them yet.

At some point, Sumire asked to move to the even higher floors of the building, but Relvin kindly rejected. It was her person living space. She would much rather keep it private.

After some time of introducing them to the bakery, Relvin suggested that they head to the kitchen where her fellow workers were. Cias and Eris were helping themselves with doughnuts from the small shelf while Neleres and Sumire admired the quiet atmosphere.

"Well, I believe that covers most of my business," Relvin had stated, "I'm sure you're all hungry now for something savory now. Why don't we head over to where you'll be served?"

Neleres nodded. "Yes, yes. That does sound fine." He then motioned for the other three to follow Relvin.

"There's still more food?!" Eris asked excitedly.

Relvin nodded, and they were led upstairs to yet another dining room followed by a kitchen.

"I wonder how many kitchens this place has…?" inquired a quiet Cias.

There, in the kitchen, was the four on Relvin's team – Alanessa, Zerik, Bakk-Tiel, and Naveru.

They had set up all of the ingredients necessary to make a certain dish with smiles plastered on their faces.

"Hello!" they said in unison, followed by bows.

"I'm Bakk-Tiel."

"I'm Alanessa, it's nice to meet you."

"My name is Naveru!"

"I'm Zerik. Pleased to meet you!"

The professionals greeted them and each shook hands.

"So, what'll you be making with the Gwuali egg, _Relvin_?" Eris asked. There was that mocking tone again, but he still seemed quite thrilled.

Relvin smiled before she waved her hands energetically to present the ingredients on the wooden table.

"Egg rolls!"

The four professionals seemed rather intrigued, with some of them not knowing what an egg roll was.

"You'll see." Relvin reassured. "Before we begin, though, do any of you have food-related allergies?"

Cias raised a hand. "Peanuts."

"We'll make sure to use canola oil instead of peanut oil, then."

She then turned to her own group. "Well… Let's begin!"

"Alanessa, the egg please."

Alanessa held her palm out facing up before an awkward shaped egg the size of a standard roll of toilet paper materialized. She then placed it on the table.

It was rather fascinating to watch for the suit-clad Hunters. In fact, they nearly forgot to write a written document for the egg and get photos of it.

Then, the five began their usual routine – making food. It was as if cooking was second nature for them, and Sumire could hardly capture everything on camera!

Alanessa and Naveru worked on the egg roll wrappers. They both combined flour, salt, water, and more than half of the egg to make it all come together as a dough. The dough then needed to be covered for a few minutes, so in the meantime they helped the others out.

Relvin, Zerik, and Bakk-Tiel were creating the filling. Zerik seasonsed rest of the egg and heated it in a skillet while Bakk-Tiel found canola oil to heat into another pan. Relvin combined water and flour into a bowl, and Naveru diced vegetables that were being filled into a separate one by Alanessa. The two bowls were then mixed into the skillet with oil along with the egg, which had been scrambled.

Once the dough was finished resting, Alanessa and Naveru began to knead it until it was smooth. The dough was long enough to almost reach both ends of the wooden table when it was flattened. It was then divided into _many_ different squares before each were topped with wax paper.

The professionals could only watch in pure amazement… It was beautiful to see five people synchronize together in the same kitchen in harmony.

Realizing the heat of the situation, they all backed out of the kitchen for a minute – except for Sumire. She insisted on capturing some more moments.

* * *

"Here you go." Relvin said as she served individual sized condiment cups. There were three different ones for each person, and all filled with different sauces; soy sauce, sweet and sour sauce, and a ginger-y sauce which was strangely enough usually served with sushi.

The dining room table contained four plates for each of the suited Hunters. Relvin had placed each condiment cup neatly on the sides and gave out napkins. It was a gorgeous sight, but in the heart of the table was something even more breathtaking – a large plate with a mountain of egg rolls.

The professionals almost couldn't believe their eyes. No, they _couldn't_ believe their eyes. Despite watching the five create the meal out of the weirdly shaped egg, it seemed… too good to be true.

"This…" Sumire started, holding her camera with shaking hands, "This sight is worth more than a thousand words."

Neleres nodded before he had Eris check the rolls for a few things.

Eris grabbed the one on top of the pile.

"The temperature seems suitable, yes. Since we were able to watch you cook, I can confirm that the food is fully cooked and that there is no… poison." The last word was followed by a smirk.

Sumire then began to take several shots of the dish while Cias wrote down first impressions of it, and after some more waiting time they had finally seated themselves.

Neleres clasped his hands together followed by his eyes welling up with tears. "It's been too long since I've last seen egg rolls… They're almost like grandmother's…!"

Relvin was flattered. "O-Oh my. Thank you, sir."

"Please taste them." Alanessa offered.

Since Eris grabbed one first, he got the first dibs.

The others began to fill their plates with them as well, and Neleres tried one without a sauce.

His face brightened.

"The texture of the egg wrappers… The taste of the hard-scrambled Gwauli eggs on the inside… The vegetables that accompany it…" He raised a fist and it trembled. "I-IT'S AMAZING JUST LIKE GRANDMA'S!"

Each of the cooks were relieved to know that the food was enjoyable.

"Try one the sauces, sir." Naveru then suggested.

"Oh, right. The sauces…."

Neleres dipped an egg roll into the cup of soy sauce before taking a bite.

"…"

The five Gourmet Hunters were surprised to see his face become completely white from the saltiness.

"B-Boss!"

"OOPS!" Zerik yelled, "I FORGOT TO SERVE DRINKS!"

* * *

After an exhilarating dinner experience (aside from the soy sauce accident), the connoisseur of good food and his crew announced to the workers at The Scirocco that they'd give their word to the Association, and Relvin was guaranteed to be the first to be able to legally serve Gwauli eggs once the species of birds' population increased.

He also kindly recommended for them to work on the salt content in their soy sauces.

Because there were still eggs rolls left, Relvin had suggested serving them to the folks at the Association. Neleres agreed to do so.

"That was an amazing experience. Thank you." Neleres said as he shook hands with the culinary Hunter again. "With dishes like that, I'm sure your business will never be dull."

"Thank you very much, sir. It was a pleasure to have you out here today." thanked Relvin.

Sumire, Cias, and Eris then shook hands with her too before they walked toward the entrance.

"Farewell!"

"Take care!"

"I suppose it was rather nice to taste commoner food again for once, _Relvin_."

That 'compliment' was from Eris, and Relvin was rather peeved with it but wished him a good rest of the day anyway.

 _Huh? I'm not a commoner… Or maybe he was referring to the fact that I wasn't born into wealth like I assume he was..._

… _I'll remember that._

It became quiet again at The Scirocco when the Hunters exited the building. Well, other than a small table of three chatting.

Relvin stretched and looked at the time on her phone. It was already twelve twenty-eight in the afternoon.

"Well, that ended wonderfully," she exclaimed happily, "and now once the Gwauli population expands, we'll be the first to sell their eggs!"

"Now if only catching their eggs wasn't such a problem…" Bakk-Tiel replied.

Naveru reassured him. "We'll find a way."

"Oh, right. Since these eggs are from lab-created birds, doesn't that mean they come with side effects?" Alanessa asked.

"…"

"Now isn't the time to ask that, Alanessa!" exclaimed Relvin.

They then shared another fit of laughter just as they did much earlier. Honestly, it wasn't something they could worry about by then. The egg rolls were already (mostly) consumed.

"Let's hope the folks at the Association don't die from a heart attack or something," Naveru said, "Or else we'll end up getting sued."

Bakk-Tiel nodded, "That would mean the end of this business as well since it's the Hunter Association we're speaking of."

"Aww, we shouldn't think so negatively! Let's just acknowledge the fact that we've accomplished yet another big achievement here – a larger step towards a better business!" encouraged Relvin.

"Alright, alright. Just because the foodies left doesn't mean business is over for today," Zerik interrupted, "so let's head back to work now."

The five Gourmet Hunters nodded in agreement before deciding to head back to their respective areas for the hour – all except Relvin.

"I'm gonna try to catch a nap if you all don't mind. I'm sure you will all be fine, though. Later!"

With that, she ran towards the stairway that lead to the upper floors.

Bakk-Tiel scratched his head, "Was it that tiring for her?"

Naveru giggled. "It might've been the combination between the nervousness and excitement."

* * *

Meanwhile, Relvin was making her way to the sixth floor when she was surprised to see Alanessa on the steps.

"Hey!" Relvin greeted.

Alanessa waved, then asked. "Was Eris mocking you the whole time?"

Relvin squinted.

"It seemed that way to me," she answered, "I think he was trying to be a douche canoe."

Alanessa chuckled.

"Well, if he's the same Eris I had known before having this job, then that's definitely like him. Enjoy your nap!"

"Wait, you know him?"

But before she knew it, Alanessa had already shifted into the wall on the left and disappeared from her sight altogether.

Relvin was too tired to chase after her.

 _Why didn't he recognize her, then? Or did he? …I'll ask her about it some other day_ , she thought as she moved up the stairs to her living space. _In the meantime…_

"VICTORY!"

* * *

 **[There may still be some errors since I rushed a little with my proofreading (for work), so sorry if there's any confusing holes or grammar-related problems in this chapter!]**


	4. A Thief, Sibling, and a Valuable Lesson

**[Thank you for the reviews so far! I think this chapter should be interesting to read (and maybe slightly fluffy), but I won't place anything that'll spoil it here.**

 **Note: The first half or so of the story is in third person limited point of view from, meaning it is in the point of view of one specific character, just until the first horizontal line (excluding the one you see below this note). You'll find out why.**

 **Enjoy!]**

* * *

There was absolute silence in The Scirocco. It was much past five in the morning, whereas the eatery had closed an hour before. The city of Yorknew itself seemed to calm down a little, too. Much less lights were on and there wasn't any roaring traffic. It felt quite placid.

But suddenly, a hooded figure broke into the eatery. It began to swiftly move throughout the building with ease, being sure that its footsteps couldn't be heard.

The entity snuck its way into a room with a sweet aroma – the bakery, though it was too dark to actually tell. It proceeded to silently make its way to the kitchen, behind the counter with ease. It then reduced the pace it was moving at and began to walk leisurely. There was a halt as it approached a large refrigerator.

Slowly and with care, the figure wearing a hood opened the refrigerator, and inside it could see that there were lots of different trays of cookie dough lying out to chill. Although it was a neat sight, the silhouette reached for something else – a mould. It was as if it already had an agenda.

The mould was quietly removed from one of the refrigerator's shelves before the door was briskly, yet near-soundlessly shut. The hooded figure then began to pluck something out of the mould and pop it into its unseen mouth, and after a nod of approval, it repeated the same process numerous times.

Eventually the mould was empty. Having no use for it anymore, the silhouette of the being opened the fridge once more and reached out to place the mould back on a shelf when…

"Excuse me?"

The entity accidentally dropped the mould out of shock. It had become senselessly caught up in the high of enjoying the edibles that its awareness had decreased. Because the fridge was still open, a very slight light attempted to fill the room, and the figure in the hood could just barely make out somebody slightly taller than them standing only a few yards away.

 _Tsk._

The figure made a run for it once they heard a clash and was quite confident in its ability to escape. It began to run toward a small window with its elbow held out, most likely to bust the window open, when out of the blue its feet unexpectedly started feeling unable to support its body properly. The floor had shifted – no, the floor was _altered_ to become slippery, and the being was caught off guard by the change. Earlier than it could fall to the ground or try to regain their footing, someone grabbed them by the arms.

"Whoa! Hold it there." another voice said. It seemed quite… different from the last one? "You're moving too fast for your own good."

The hooded figure sneered. There were still multiple people in the building... It wasn't as if it hadn't calculated something like that to happen, though.

The being, who seemed to be a person, easily broke free from their confined state followed by a kick in the left leg to whoever grabbed them. They proceeded to glide across the lubricated floor toward a large table of wood where they'd hope to use as an obstacle against the others in the building, but out of nowhere a bright light flashed directly into their eyes. Not only did it stun them, but it temporarily blinded them as well.

The person was then tackled and pinned to the floor, which for some odd reason didn't seem so slippery anymore.

"Caught you."

All of the lights in that particular section of the building promptly became in operation. It seemed almost painful for the hooded person to open their eyes. However, once they finally did so, they could hardly see the silhouette of same person who discovered them at the refrigerator.

They were then lifted off the ground by that person to be revealed to the others there.

"What do we have here?" another voice inquired. It was from yet _another_ different person than the two from before, and surely it wasn't the one holding them.

 _My vision is beginning to return…_ the hood-clad person thought.

They could now see that they were being pinned down by a small… girl? She had curious green eyes and her hair was long and curly at the end of each strand. Judging by the cover of the book, the person figured she was the obnoxious-and-nosy-little-girl type.

"Oh, it's a child!" the 'girl' exclaimed. Her tone didn't seem to exactly express happiness, however it wasn't as if she was just plainly stating it either.

"What do we do with them?" a masculine voice in the distance asked.

Another female voice spoke up, "Naveru, please present them to us."

 _Naveru?_

The Naveru 'girl' seemed to struggle in her thoughts for a bit before she followed the orders she was given. To her surprise, the burglar wasn't resisting…

 _I'll let them believe I'm admitting defeat for now._

As she held them up, the others in the room could see a small child – just a few inches shorter than Naveru – wearing a pair of regular jeans with bland white sneakers. The hoodie, however, caught their interest as it succeeded to cover their hair and face completely.

The hooded person could see the others in the room as well – two people. One who seemed like she had a very bad tanning job done while the other was a man who had some sort of skin color that indicated they were sick.

… _What the hell kind of 'eatery' is this?_

So far, the hooded child seemed to believe Naveru was the most 'normal' looking out of the three.

"A boy?" the woman with the bad tan asked.

Naveru nodded in response. "Yeah. They smell like one."

"You would know that…?"

Naveru rolled her eyes. "Anyway, this kid sure was hard to catch! I wonder if they do this regularly?"

' _Catch.' So they think they've caught me_ , the hooded person thought,

 _Eh, no matter. I'll just play along._

"Let go of me!" the kid suddenly yelled.

"Nope!" Naveru replied.

The man with the sickly skin tone shook his head. "Let's see what's behind the hood."

Naveru nodded before she began to comply with the request. The hooded kid didn't seem to care enough to fight back, so they let her pull it off.

Out came fluffy white hair and the most gorgeous shade of blue eyes. Their face suggested slight annoyance, but it also seemed as if they were used to something like this happening to them.

"Hello, young man. What's your name?" There was the voice of that woman with the terrible tan again. "My name is Relvin."

The child turned his head in disgust. "I refuse to answer."

"Well, that's to be expected. Naveru, let go of him please."

Naveru sighed and freed the kid from her grasp. He began to dust himself off when he was finally loose.

 _Pfft. I could have easily escaped from her hold_ , he thought.

The woman known as Relvin walked over to the kid and smiled.

"How old are you?"

 _Well, I guess it can't hurt to tell them._

"Fifteen, but what does it matter to you?"

"It's just a question. Do you do this often?"

"Do _what_ often?"

The woman's grin became wider before she spoke again. "Oh, you know. Break into other peoples' property, sneak into their kitchens, and raid their fridges for chocolate."

The white-haired teen sneered in response. "What does it matter to you?"

"It matters because you could've come in at a later time and nicely asked to try some instead of going through all of this trouble." Relvin answered.

"And how was I supposed to know that? Besides, this wasn't trouble for me _at all_." There was a strong emphasis on the ' _at all_ ,' indicating to the interrogators that he was either bluffing or taking it as a joke

He then thought, _I could probably take all of you down with just a hand in five seconds._

The sickly-looking man seemed interested, or at least amused. "A cocky one, oh?"

"He could be right, though. His license specifies that he's a Pro Hunter."

Apparently sometime during the interrogation, Naveru had managed to get a hold of his Hunter License and observe it.

"Hey!"

"Hold it, buster – I'm only scanning it." She tossed it back to him and he pocketed it, wondering how he wasn't able to sense any of it. Had the hideously tanned woman put him under some kind of spell with only her words? The thought of that made him think of his older brother, and he clutched his license tightly.

"Since I answered the question regarding my age, can I ask one?"

"About my age? Sure, I'm twenty-two this year." Relvin answered jokingly.

"No," the teen clarified as he shook his head, "I have no use for or interest in knowing your name."

"Then?"

"I want to know why you waited until I finished off the entire tray to go after me." He looked over to Naveru, as the question was mainly directed to her. "Surely, one of you must have sensed me."

Naveru smirked. "Yes, yes. I was able to sense you the moment you stepped foot into the building. I was only on the third floor, you see, and I was meditating, so using En wasn't a big deal." She then shrugged helplessly. "I have no idea why Relvin waited until you finished eating all of the chocolate, though. I only followed her orders."

 _She used En, huh? Also, she sure seems to like talking about her own business..._ thought the blue-eyed person.

He turned his head back to Relvin. "Well?"

"I wanted you to eat that whole mould."

The teen was taken aback a little. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Once you start, you just can't stop, right?" she winked, "I felt a little flattered that my chocolate was good enough to steal…"

The fluffy-haired guy's facial expression changed from being serious to slight annoyance.

"That's a lie, isn't it?"

Relvin grinned again. "No, but that was a partial truth."

Before he could make some sort of rude remark, she continued, "I was interested in what your intentions were. We have lots of different things lying around in our kitchens, so when you didn't bother grabbing anything else and headed just to that fridge, I couldn't help but become curious as to why."

Naveru cleared her throat and interrupted, "…Which I had to inform her all about, or else she wouldn't have known that you were here in the first place."

"Right," Relvin nodded, "It appeared to me as if it was in your plan all along to come here for that one thing – chocolate."

"It was." The teen blankly answered.

He thought, _Time to really shake them up now._

"I was told there was a chocolate made from some exquisite cacao beans here." he continued.

"And who gave you this information?" the man from before asked.

"I don't need to answer your question."

Naveru glared at the boy. "Relvin, I'm losing my patience with this kid! Let's send him off already!"

"Kid?" They began to chuckle, "How can you call me a kid when you're one yourself?"

"Excuse me? I assure you that I'm much older than you _think_ I am." the 'girl' hissed.

The man then added, "She actually _is_ older than you are."

"Shush, nauseous. Nobody was asking you."

"I am _not_ nauseous!"

"Naveru, Bakk-Tiel, quit it!" yelled Relvin. "And you too!" She pointed to the white-haired teen.

He chuckled before getting into a fighting stance.

"Sorry for this, but…" His eyes became darker with malicious intent, and his mouth curved into a twisted smile. "I really don't have time to deal with you."

The three Gourmet Hunters realized that his intent was to battle them, so they each got into defensive stances. Naveru crouched onto all fours, Relvin held up both arms with balled fists, and the man – apparently named Bakk-Tiel – aimed to reach for the kid's legs just in case he tried to run away.

The boy smirked and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared.

"What?!"

Bakk-Tiel could suddenly feel an ominous aura behind him. He turned to grab the hooded person, however he had already raised his hand toward the man's neck with outstretched claws.

"What a monster!" Naveru screamed before running to the child. She attempted to slide under his legs to kick him, but he stopped her by raising his sharp-clawed hand closer to Bakk-Tiel's neck.

"Let him go!" she yelled again.

 _Idiot. I'm not actually going to kill him. I just wanted to knock him out, and you two as well_ , the blue-eyed fellow thought.

"Congratulations," he said in a vile tone, "You were able to sense me coming, but too bad. You all still lose."

Just as he was about to strike him in the neck, another person appeared.

"Stop it."

It was a tall woman with threatening ghostly white eyes. What was more extremely shocking, however, was that she was lightly gripping a small child with both hands.

The teen's menacing expression from before suddenly became a fearful one.

"A-ALLUKA!"

Naveru and Relvin turned to the woman, whom they both seemed to know. Bakk-Tiel noticed her too.

"Free him." the woman commanded. She held the child closer to her.

The small child yelled, "Onii-chan, stop it!"

This struck the teen with terror, so he allowed the man to escape from his grasp and ran towards the child – his sister.

"Alanessa!" Relvin, Bakk-Tiel, and Naveru shouted in unison.

The familiar woman's eyes became their normal tint of hot pink again before she placed the child down. She didn't let go, though, which concerned the white-haired teen _deeply_.

"What do you intend to do with her?" he sternly asked.

Alanessa's cherry red lips curled into a smile.

"We're going to make chocolate," she answered, intending for it to be his punishment for stealing. "Right, Alluka?"

Alluka stared at her brother before she happily nodded. "Yes!"

"But why?!" the young girl's older brother asked angrily.

"Because if you can learn to make your own, you'll have no need to steal any."

"No way! I'd rather buy them."

Alanessa then let go of Alluka, who ran towards her brother to hug him.

"Onii-chan! Let's watch them make chocolates together!"

It was hard to resist the innocent little face… The blue-eyed teen young man had to nod. "Fine, we'll _watch_ you make chocolate."

 _This'll be for her, not me… I could care less about making_ chocolate, he thought.

Meanwhile, the three other Hunters in the room were quite dumbfounded.

Relvin thought to herself, _Good going, Alanessa_.

The teen then leaned to the side of his sister's face and whispered, "Did she do anything to you?"

Alluka shook her head.

"How did she find you? I told you not to enter the building!"

Alluka tilted her head. "But I didn't! I was outside waiting for you to return, onii-chan, when she showed up and then we heard fighting sounds!"

He let out a sigh.

"Fine, you win. Teach us to make chocolate."

Alanessa smiled, while the three others in the room dropped their defensive stances. They let out a sigh of relief.

"Alright then! Follow me to the bakery's kitchen and I'll teach you!" Relvin suddenly exclaimed.

She then began to walk off with the two siblings and Alanessa close behind.

Naveru and Bakk-Tiel stood there and exchanged looks for a good minute before they both scratched their head simultaneously.

"I have to say, Al got him good." Naveru admitted.

Bakk-Tiel nodded, and they both began to follow the rest.

"H-H-Hey, wait! I FORGOT TO MOP UP THE OIL I PURPOSELY SPILLED EARLIER!" Bakk-Tiel shouted.

* * *

"Before we start, I must ask," Relvin was stating, "What is your name?"

The fluff-head still refused to answer. "That's none of your business!"

"Your name is Killua, right?" Alanessa inquired.

"…"

Alluka jumped for joy. "Yup!"

"Sis!" the teen named Killua exclaimed.

Alluka giggled.

"That's nice to finally know," Relvin said with a bow, "It'll be my pleasure to teach you how to make chocolate."

"Yeah, yeah. Just get to it already." Killua pouted.

Bakk-Tiel asked, "Which method are we taking, though?"

Relvin looked at Killua and Alluka for some time before she decided on her answer. "I think we'll go with the shorter route."

Naveru nodded, "They're kids, after all. We can't make them wait too long!"

Naveru's comment annoyed Killua slightly, but he decided against retorting back.

Relvin then searched the bakery kitchen's cabinets for a specific something, while Naveru and Bakk-Tiel proceeded to do the same. Alanessa was quite preoccupied with watching Alluka's reactions and for some reason Killua was annoyed by that – it was like she was trying to play a mom role.

 _A kind of mom I've never had…_ Killua thought as he frowned slightly.

The three eventually presented the ingredients to make quick chocolate on a wooden table; cocoa powder, butter, water, sugar, and milk.

"And before you ask," Relvin raised a hand, "The cocoa mix was made by me."

"Does it really matter?" Killua asked.

Relvin nodded, "Yes, if you want to know what's in your food. The first step is finding out who's making it. Who knows what's really in it when it's made by a machine, right?"

Killua shrugged in response, and three out of four of the Gourmet Hunters began to make chocolate.

"Alanessa, since Zerik isn't here we might need your help." Bakk-Tiel informed.

Alanessa nodded before she tied an apron on.

* * *

Alluka watched the four culinary geniuses work together with glimmering eyes. Alanessa was heating water while Naveru mixed the cocoa and butter in a bowl. Bakk-Tiel had the job of measuring, sifting, and combining sugar (for they were using two kinds) in a separate bowl, and Relvin awaited the finishing product with a twenty-cavity heart shaped chocolate mould.

The cocoa-butter mix was poured into the hot water and Alanessa stirred it. After a short period of time spent mixing the two, Naveru poured the contents of the pot back into the bowl. The two sugars were then added to the hot cocoa mix by Bakk-Tiel, and Relvin helped pour in milk. More stirring commenced until the entire mixture was smooth.

"That, my friends," Relvin started as she began to pour the chocolate into the little cavities of the mould, "Is the easy way to make chocolate."

Alluka was inspired.

Killua, on the other hand, was a little more than stimulated – though he wouldn't ever admit it.

After each cavity was filled, the mould was then placed into the fridge to cool.

"Of course you don't need a fancy mould like ours to shape the chocolate. Any container will do!" Naveru instructed, "It's like water; it takes the form of the object it is placed in."

The Gourmet Hunters each nodded to each other before Alluka asked, "But when can we eat it?"

Relvin scratched her chin. "It seems to differ each time I make it. I'd say an hour, though."

"In the meantime," Alanessa began to suggest, "Why don't you two enjoy the bowl's contents?"

The siblings turned to the wooden table where a bowl of chocolate mix sat. Alluka immediately ran over, however Killua dragged his feet for a bit. He was specific about his chocolates even if he had decided to rob one he hadn't ever tried on that particular day. He wasn't sure he'd like it until….

"Hey, sis! Wai-!"

Alluka shoved a spoonful of chocolate into the white haired teen's mouth. At first his expression ranged from shock to anger to fear, but then he swallowed the mixture and his face brightened.

"Well?" Relvin asked.

He blushed and gave the spoon back to his sister. "It's way too sweet! Sheesh, how much sugar did you add?!"

Naveru couldn't help but let loose a loud guffaw. She found Killua's expression priceless! It didn't take too long for the others to join her, either.

"H-Hey!" Killua exclaimed, "Cut it out or I'll-! I'll…!" He wasn't sure what he'd do, though. He shrugged it off and exchanged laughter with them instead of finishing his sentence.

 _That chocolate was actually rather nice…_ he secretly thought.

When the laughter ended, Bakk-Tiel encouraged Alluka and Killua to help with the cleaning. At first Killua was hesitant, however seeing Alluka help out with washing dishes made him feel a little motived to clean as well. He ended up wiping off the table.

"Hey, what time is it now?" Relvin asked as she swept cocoa powder off the floor.

Naveru walked over to the fridge and opened it, revealing a clock on the inside.

"It's six-thirty in the morning." she responded.

"Alright, thanks."

* * *

Eventually a whole hour of tidying up passed, and everyone was gathered around the refrigerator to see the chocolate. Relvin was poking each heart with a toothpick.

"They're good to go." she reassured, once poking the final one.

Alluka jumped for joy again and Killua had to calm her this time.

"Chocolate! Chocolate!" she exclaimed, "Onii-chan's favorite treat!"

Killua smiled awkwardly in response.

Naveru then began to set up two small containers. It piqued Killua's interest, so he had to ask,

"What are those for?"

Alanessa nodded to him before she placed ten chocolates in each container, then sealed them both closed. She handed the containers to the siblings.

"Here you go."

Killua's face brightened. "You're letting us keep all of them?!"

The four Gourmet Hunters nodded.

"What? Too sweet for you to handle?" Relvin teasingly asked.

Killua shook his head quickly. "N-No! It's just that…"

"THANK YOU!" Alluka exclaimed before her brother could finish his line.

"Oh – It was nothing!" Relvin responded.

"Let this be a lesson for you two," said Alanessa, as she patted the two children on the head, "Especially you, Killua."

Alluka happily hugged the tall woman's thighs while Killua continued to allow his hair to be tousled. He was… astounded with this ending, to say the least.

"Y-Yeah..." he carefully answered, "Thank you."

 _It's all thanks to Alluka that all of this chocolate-making happened…_ he thought, _And for once, I'm rather glad that I was caught thieving…?_ He shook his head. _No, that sounds wrong…_

* * *

"It was fun teaching you how to make chocolate!" Naveru exclaimed before bowing.

Killua and his younger sister bobbed their heads in response.

"Yeah. Thank you for that… lesson." Killua replied with slight embarrassment.

Alluka yelled, "THANK YOU ONEE-SANS AND PURPLE ONION!"

"Purple onion?!" Bakk-Tiel nearly screeched.

Alluka giggled at him while he comically started to pull at his hairs. In the meantime, Killua was treasuring a moment – a moment of eating the homemade chocolate from his container.

 _Would it even be considered homemade if it wasn't made in a home?_ he wondered to himself, _Eh, no matter. What does matter is that it's impressive… Almost as good as ChocoRobo-kun…!_

His eyes lightened and began to become glittery before he realized how early in the morning it was.

"Oh snap!" he exclaimed, "Alluka, we have to go or we'll miss our train!"

Alluka nodded with a slight frown before she took her brother's hand. Then, they looked back at the Gourmet Hunters.

"Thanks again!" Killua exclaimed.

"However, next time we visit this place, we'll be the ones making the chocolate!"

He made his signature cat face before he and his sister waved.

Relvin, Alanessa, Bakk-Tiel, and Naveru waved back.

"Take care!"

Killua nodded and proceeded to exit through the main entrance with Alluka.

 _I can't believe I actually said that._

* * *

"K-K-K-KILLUA?!" somebody screamed. It was none other than Zerik, who missed all the fun his fellow working buddies had. It was much later in the day, and he had arrived for his usual shift which was in the afternoon.

"Yup!" Relvin nodded.

"He was a hard-shelled kid with a gooey core." Bakk-Tiel stated.

"K-K-K-K-KILLUA?!" Zerik repeated.

Naveru gave him a strange look. "Yeah, what's wrong?"

Zerik took a deep breath before he gave his answer.

"You all do realize that he's from a family consisting of the _WORLD'S BEST ASSASSINS_ , right? RIGHT?!"

Relvin, Bakk-Tiel, and Naveru tilted their heads. That caused Zerik to smack his palm into his face.

Alanessa smiled, though.

"I knew that."

The confused three peered at her, possibly wondering how.

"Let's just say I've traveled the world, and have heard of some names." she responded in the midst of their confusion.

Naveru gave a slight nod. "Uh-huh…?"

"DAMN IT! THAT'S UNFAIR! YOU GUYS GOT TO MEET TWO ZOLDYCKS AND I MISSED IT!" Zerik yelled angrily.

"Calm down or else you'll scare the customers away!" Bakk-Tiel directed.

"DAMN IT ALLLLLLLLL!"

* * *

 **[I did my best with trying to keep Killua and Alluka in-character, however I apologize if something seems off for them - I'm honestly not too great at dealing with canon-characters (as I have stated before).**

 **Also, there may still be some errors, holes, or confusing parts that just don't make sense. I apologize if you spot any.**

 **Edit: Fixed up some small errors. A missing word in a sentence can sometimes alter the meaning intended entirely!]**


	5. A Recipe, a Mission, and the Battles (1)

**[Author's Note: I deeply apologize for the over-two month absence! Work among other things took over. I wasn't spending the entire time working, though. I contributed to this new episode bit-by-bit daily, and I'm finally glad to present to you not one, but TWO new chapters! It was originally intended as a whole one, but it ended up coming to more than 19,000 words. So, they're related. ^^; Hopefully this will be somewhat entertaining if not found interesting. So... Enjoy!**

 **Thanks again to anyone who reviewed and/or followed!]**

* * *

"And how exactly is this upcoming mission going to benefit the eatery?"

A familiar group of five were seated in a train. Surprisingly for the supposed luxurious experience, the interior of the train appeared to be nothing special; a mix of sky blue and a barely contrasting orange, and similarly to a restaurant, there were booths with tables. If there were supposed to be any separate rooms for each car, they were alternately jointed together, perhaps to give a more 'social' experience.

Naveru was quite preoccupied with trying on her different animal-eared hats and oven mittens. Alanessa was reading the newspaper. Bakk-Tiel was inspecting a jar of metal shavings and another jar of quartz for some sort of 'science experiment' that would happen in the future. Zerik was writing down a complex recipe for making what would be an ironically simple fruit salad.

All the while, Relvin was watching the terrain of the world at twelve fifteen in the morning shift and run away. No – the train was just moving that fast. The scenery outside zoomed by without any pauses from the crystal clear window.

"By partaking in this mission, we'll possibly have the chance to learn about a secret recipe on a slightly different way to make lasagna, and, if all goes well; obtain a copy of it." Alanessa responded to the question, after what seemed to be a forever-long pause.

"Oh, is that what it is?" Naveru asked, though it was meant to be rhetorical.

As hilarious as it sounded, the five had decided to take up a quest to protect an old lasagna recipe treasured by a rich family in another country. More recently, break-ins had become frequent in the household, and the family suspected that the crooks were all searching for the lasagna recipe coming to no other conclusions.

"But… What makes this lasagna recipe more special than any other?" Bakk-Tiel asked.

"M-Maybe it's made with ketchup instead of tomato sauce?!" Relvin suddenly exclaimed.

Nearly everyone in the group's face contorted. The idea of using ketchup instead of tomato sauce was very…

"No, maybe it's Alfredo sauce." Alanessa spoke, trying to ease the mood.

Zerik shook his head. "There have been dozens of lasagna recipes using that sauce, though."

"It doesn't have to be a new ingredient. It might just be the way it's, er… Baked..?" Relvin added.

"Half baked?" Bakk-Tiel asked.

Naveru took off a pair of kitty mitts and sighed. "All this noodle talk is making me hungry."

"I agree," Alanessa replied, "However, the food served on this train is nowhere near good. Did any of you happen to bring anything edible?"

Naveru nodded. "I brought wolfsbane."

"What for?!" Relvin asked in shock.

"We might just have to kill somebody, or it could be used for medicinal purposes I suppose."

"Either way, let's hope it doesn't come to using that." Zerik stated.

They resumed their activities from before, and Relvin could only wonder why no other Hunter bothered taking up the job.

 _Maybe it seems too simple…_

* * *

After another hour of partial boredom and small chat, the train finally made its stop at a large station. The group stepped out without much noise before admiring the sight of the new country they were in.

"This place is more yellow than I anticipated." said Relvin.

It was true; the country – or at least town – they stationed at was filled with yellow marble buildings and pathways. Further in the distance, they could see tall, bright golden hills topped with windmills even in darkness of the midnight world. If anyone were to travel past the hills, they would be led to mountains rich in rocks, minerals, and everlasting snow.

"This is exactly why I love being a Hunter." Bakk-Tiel declared.

"Silly, you can travel without owning a license!" joked Naveru.

Zerik began to walk on. "Well, unfortunately we're not here for sightseeing. Let's get this assignment over with."

Disappointed groans escaped the mouths of a fraction of them. The small group didn't have much of a choice, though, so they began to walk out of the station and into the town.

"Where are we _exactly_?" Naveru decided to ask.

"We're currently in Vellha, however the building we're looking for is in another town not too far from here." answered Relvin.

Bakk-tiel yawned. "Do the locals here speak our language?"

"Many of them can, but learning theirs would still prove to be substantially useful." Alanessa replied.

"Great. We have an assignment from someone who possibly doesn't even speak our tongue."

Naveru crossed her arms. "But isn't it considered ignorant to enter a country when you don't know at least a _little_ of the language and culture?"

The five left themselves to think about the question as they trailed on. It wasn't too long until they came across a large directory of Vellha and surrounding towns, though. Each took notice that they were in the heart of the quaint town, which made sense as there was a tremendous fountain standing before them.

"Wow, the water in this fountain is pink…" spoke Relvin, observing the fountain behind the tall directory. "Was this intentional?"

Naveru sniffed the moist air before she gave her judgment. "It smells like chemicals around here. I'd say yes."

Meanwhile, Zerik was trying to figure out where the building they were looking for was _exactly_. He saw that it was west of the town, but there were several different roads to take that eventually entwined and he couldn't decipher anything more. From what he could see, the map was in another language – the ' _other language_ ' that was mentioned before.

"Use the translator on your phone, Zerik." reminded Alanessa.

"Better yet, just use her. She can probably translate over two hundred different languages as well."

After the small joke, Bakk-Tiel picked up the shortest member of their group, who didn't seem too happy about being held up. A block containing small writing in the corner was pointed out to her.

"Put me down so I can at least concentrate…" Naveru protested. In a matter of only seconds, she was placed back onto her feet – thankfully he didn't DROP her. She then put her fox paw gloved hands to both sides of her head and focused; she needed the meditation time. If the others were paying attention, they would see that she was channeling her aura.

"It says the second path in the western direction _might_ lead to the Ethelle Mansion." the strawberry haired young lady spoke after a minute, "That's where we're headed to, right?"

Relvin nodded, causing the band to march on.

* * *

After _trying_ to follow a rather complicated path, getting lost almost thrice, and wasting a good half an hour, they approached the Ethelle Mansion by two in the morning.

"The mentioned path from the directory almost didn't help…" Bakk-Tiel stated in between his panting. They had just finished outrunning an unfriendly pack of avaricious birds.

"If I hadn't figured out that using Gyo was necessary in order to spot a hidden path on the map leading here, we probably would've ended up in the township of Laienn..." admitted Zerik, rubbing sweat from his forehead.

Relvin took out a small bottle of water. "Oh, yeah? Well then, whose idea was it to attract the Nen-sucking birds?"

"That was not planned at all!"

Bakk-Tiel raised a hand. "Actually, I think those birds were attracted to my rhodochrosite ring… It does shine a little."

Alanessa smacked a palm against her forehead. "We're here at the mansion, alright? That's all that should matter right now."

Meanwhile, Naveru was completely ignoring the team. Instead she was focusing on something else. There was a smell being produced in the distance of the mansion.

 _Why does it smell edible?_ She wondered to herself. Using her nose, she began to follow the scent trail in hopes of finding the source. She sauntered off a thin pathway and abruptly stopped when her head bumped into the outer walls of the building.

"Ow…" she said, rubbing her head. She then peered up.

"…So, It's the building that smells like pasta."

* * *

"Welcome!" a young lady boomed, "I see! Somebody finally decided to take up this job." Before anyone could make a form of response, though, she added, "Or should I say… Some _bodies_." That sort of introduction could only be regular, no?

Relvin, Zerik, Alanessa, Bakk-Tiel, and Naveru each presented their Hunter Licenses. The young lady took each, one by one, and began to take her time inspecting them. She made a nod of approval when a good five minutes had passed. Meanwhile, the group felt like she was wasting time just staring at all of their names on a card individually for much too long.

"Alright, you all seem valid." the young lady said. Her bright pink lips curled into a smile. Then, with the hand holding each license, cards between each wedge of fingers, she flicked them into their directions respectively. The licenses were moving at such a swift rate – an impossibly swift rate considering she stood only yards away. Relvin began to realize the woman had used Shu; the little certificates were most likely as keen as blades.

The others caught notice of that, too, and they were able to catch theirs with ease. …Except for Alanessa. The license struck her head-on, that is, directly in the forehead. She began to watch with indifference as blood trickled down her face and to her nose.

"A-Are you alright?!" Zerik asked.

Alanessa yanked on her license. It popped off with ease, but it also caused a little more blood to ooze out.

"Alanessa? You were aware that she infused it with Shu, right?" Naveru asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Alanessa still seemed to not think much of it. Actually, she had been in a neutral state the whole time. She could only nod slowly in response.

"Ma'am, if it's not a burden; c-could you please pass her some napkins or cleaning wipes of some sort?" inquired Bakk-Tiel.

The young lady laughed in response to the entire scenario. "Interesting! I assumed you all would have caught the certificates knowing that I used Shu, being Hunters and all. However, this! This sort of reaction was not what I was expecting!" Her voice was still booming with excitement. She couldn't help but let out another nice, hearty laugh, and yet somehow still retain her feminine demeanor.

She then motioned for a few butlers and maids to come out. "Bristel! Umeld! Reide! And yes, you too, Yvonne."

Four terrified folks appeared from rather basic hiding spots; behind the curtains, and bowed elegantly.

"Please get some wipes for this dear Alanessa. Oh – and don't forget the disinfectant! You don't want one of our new hirelings to spoil from bacteria, no?" the young woman asked of her servants, "They're the only ones we've received in two weeks, and they at least look like they have a chance of surviving…"

Though her tone was playful and mocking, the last sentence didn't seem to come out as such. In a way, it was still teasing, but… It also held somber undertones.

"Surviving?" Relvin asked.

The woman daintily placed a gloved hand to her mouth as her lackeys scurried off. "Oh, excuse me! I'm Layla Renée-Dunforde Ethelle. I'm eighteen this year and the current Lady of the mansion. I'm also the one who will inherit my father's wealth once he dies…"

She continued, "But his wealth shouldn't concern you. You are all gathered here to protect a precious recipe created by my great grandmother. She left it with us before her parting."

Bakk-Tiel raised a hand.

"I know, I know," Layla interrupted, "It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Probably too easy for a Hunter, which would explain the lack of attention for this job. But it isn't so simple."

There was a long pause.

Eventually, Naveru decided to break the ice. "…Well, what is it, Your Highness?"

"Before I get to that, dear, I'd like to explain the rules, objectives, and rewards this assignment." answered Layla. The Gourmet Hunters mentally sighed in response. It was going to be a _long_ night.

"First, by showing up in this building, you agree to not harm me or any of the servants here. If you fail to obey this rule, you _will_ receive very serious consequences."

Naveru squinted.

"You're here to protect the recipe from being stolen. That's it." She sounded relatively bored with her statements, even to her own ears. "If I feel like you don't deserve any reward for your hard work and effort, then so be it. You're in my territory now, so you have to deal with acting out on my orders. Period." Cringes followed. "The recipe absolutely _must_ be protected. If it happens to be successfully snatched away, I'm out for blood. With that said, you aren't allowed to read or copy it on duty."

Layla rolled her eyes. It was now quite obvious to them that she probably had it all memorized from a script of some sort, and that she dreaded repeating it again. "For the mission, go ahead and kill the intruders, torture them, skin them, cook them – I really don't give a damn. You're Hunters, no? You're used to it. As long as you bring their boss back alive so I can send in his sorry derrière to the authorities, I'm good." For once, the last sentence from her actually sounded as if it came from her own mouth rather than a script.

By then, the servants had returned with not only the disinfectant and clean wipes, but some bandages as well. Alanessa gladly took the items with gratitude and wiped off the blood from her forehead to her nose. The maids made sure to wrap the bandage around her head when she finished cleaning up.

"Lastly; feel free wreak havoc in here. Blow up half of the building if it is efficient for you. My father will pay for the repairs when he returns from his business trip anyway." Layla smirked once the cleaning session had finished. "If it gets really bad, though, I'll probably have to take shelter somewhere else. Can't live in a house without a roof, can I?"

Noticing the expression of the folks who gave a sweet sigh of relief, Layla added, "The reward for successful completion of this mission is five million Velty each and one gem from my family's treasure room. That excludes my precious _Dreamstone_ , of course. If I like you enough, I might even grant you a copy of my great grandmother's top secret lasagna recipe. That would definitely pay off the hard work for you Gourmet Hunters, no?"

Relvin slowly nodded. Naveru and Zerik seemed slightly embarrassed over the fact that they actually traveled this far for a recipe they could probably find somewhere online. Bakk-Tiel wondered if the lasagna really had anything special to it. Alanessa still seemed indifferent.

"Any questions so far?" Layla bothered asking.

Naveru jumped up and raised her hand. "Why does this mansion smell like pasta?"

A moment of silence followed. Layla's servants realized the situation and began to awkwardly fan her.

"Wow, even after all of these years that smell still lingers?" she asked herself aloud. She noticed the confused faces of the others – of course, except Alanessa – and came to the conclusion that they didn't notice it at all.

"I applaud your sense of smell, young lady. This building is actually made almost completely of… well, noodles." Layla replied gracelessly, to fit the awkward atmosphere. "Yes, cooked noodles." she then added noticing a few contorted faces.

Layla cleared her throat. "Anyway, moving on. Information about the intruders." She let her hands hang closely to her waist, and a grim expression clouded her visage. "There is _at least_ twenty people eyeing this building once the clock strikes three on this particular night of the weekend – or morning, if you will. They always fail to conceal their aura, except for maybe three or four. Of course, I can easily tell."

"What else?" asked Zerik.

Layla frowned. "By just that I'm sure you can tell that they're all Nen users." She took a deep breath before continuing. "Anywho, my great grandmother's lasagna recipe is in our treasure room. Only about two of said people are able to make it close enough to that mark _every_ night, but never go in. It's rather absurd because our security was _supposed_ to be tight."

Relvin asked, "Where _is_ your security? Shouldn't they be on duty now? We haven't seen anybody outside the mansion."

"Oh no, dear. It's not that kind of security you're thinking of. Any bodyguards I once had were slaughtered. Even the ones with Nen abilities. Either the intruders are just that tough, or the paid guards were just small fries." Layla answered, "Unfortunately, my servants are regular people only suited for mundane tasks unlike this one. We've instead had to rely on top-notch technology for our security. Tracking, laser hallways that trigger explosions, mines – you name it. We've tried all that nice stuff, but technology can only go so far. Humans have brains over computers, and I believe some Nen abilities are outsmarting them."

"So, someone must have an ability like mine that allows them to resist being easily tracked somehow." Alanessa finally spoke.

"Oh?" Layla expressed, "Tell me of it, then, dear."

The taller woman shrugged, "I would rather not explain it in the open. There are cameras here."

Layla sighed, but nodded in consideration. "Alright. I can't get picky anyway... Does anyone else have a question?"

"When do we prepare for the attack, Miss? It's two twenty in the morning right now." voiced Bakk-Tiel.

"As soon as possible would be nice. They'll most likely show up at three again, after all."

"W-Wait… Other than their leader, we can actually slaughter the trespassers?!" Relvin asked.

Layla shrugged and answered with absolutely no empathy for the enemy, "Sure, why not? They've already murdered my bodyguards and a good deal of my servants. I say it serves them right."

"Wow, kind of harsh on both ends…"

"Anything we should know about this place?" Naveru then piled onto the question chain before she leaned against a thick pillar.

"This mansion is only four stories high, basement excluded. If each of you could take a floor, that'd be nice. The treasure room is a separate room locked and latched in the basement, though." Layla informed, "However, don't worry it. There's only two that take the basement route. I feel like the others are here to kill more of my servants."

Zerik peered at his comrades. "Well, we received her permission. Let's all take a different path."

Layla raised a gloved hand. "Wait. If it isn't a bother, I'd like dear Alanessa to have the basement. I think she'd understand _those_ abilities best."

The group of five had to think about that, but it wasn't long until they all came to an agreement. Alanessa would take on the intruders from the basement. It only made sense, right?

Four out of the five group members agreed to Zerik's suggestion of taking different directions. They briefly discussed who would take which floor other than the basement, and after a smooth agreement, they were ready. Relvin had the top floor, Naveru dominated the second, Zerik vouched for the first, and Bakk-Tiel took the third. Each of them set off toward their destinations fully prepared.

Before Alanessa would leave for the basement, though, she needed to speak with Layla in private.

"So, about this ability…" Layla started, motioning for the both of them to move to a quiet, camera-free space. "Or is it… _abilities_?"

* * *

 _Ding_

The clock struck three o'clock in the morning. The inky sky was now blanketed in visible bright white celestial balls of gas; both hydrogen and helium. The moon was faintly being covered by thick, black clouds. It seemed like a peaceful night, but much too placid to be true.

Wasting no time, twenty dark figures appeared atop the domed roof of the mansion. They remained still for many minutes. It was as if they were waiting for something. Perhaps for the best time to strike.

A hushed and short conversation ensued, following the eerie silence.

Once it ended, a gust of wind followed and each person gave a nod and made a dive. They were all moving in groups towards certain areas of the building.

* * *

The lights of the Ethelle mansion were on in a majority of the rooms, as they had been all night. Inside, five warriors – yet chefs by heart were separated from each other, ready for battle.

Once the clock reached the desired time, each of them, including the Lady of the mansion, carved a message into their brains.

 _It's time._

Relvin wasn't deaf. Being the only person in control of the top floor – and long-eared at that, she could hear footsteps emerging from the roof and sense auras. Although she couldn't hear anything of a hushed conversation, she received more than enough information to know the intruders were heading inside.

 _Just as Lady Ethelle said, they're all going to split up._

She could hear the sounds of a window being kicked at on the side. It meant there were some already coming her way.

 _Of course. But how many?_

The slamming of the unfortunate window continued.

 _Two are headed to the basement. Putting my math skills to use, that leaves four of us with…_

 _Four and a half each?!_

A loud crash followed by screeches of shattered glass penetrated Relvin's sense of hearing. In the blink of an eye, four shadowy entities slid through the forced entrance. All unharmed, they nodded to each other before noticing something that didn't match in contrast with the interior's colors at all.

Some _one_.

They each raised their weapons.

Relvin began to step into the light cast inside building – courtesy of what was once a window. When she gained their full attention, she held out her arm to her left, palm facing up. Slowly, a shape began to materialize in the palm of her hand. She observed the unwanted guests' weapons while this happened.

A battle axe was adorned on one's back. Two had flexible handheld weapons; nunchaku and tonfa. The last one held up only their fists.

 _We've got a variety of weapons here._ Relvin contemplated, _Well, let me show you mine._

By the time her thoughts ceased, a short, thin object had concluded its forming in her palm. She clutched it.

Three of the trespassers wasted no time. They rushed to her direction. During the time of their quick reactions, Relvin slid the materialized object in her hand and it opened up to reveal a design of a swallow in a tree. Her 'weapon' looked as it was made from wood and paper. Her 'weapon' was also folded neatly in a pattern, entirely to its very ends.

A fan.

As the assailants began to strike their first blows from different directions, Relvin made an upward slash with her left hand. The fan nearly penetrated one of her targets – the one wielding the battle axe – however they ducked right before she could land a direct hit. Responding quickly, she somersaulted into another direction only to be met with the fist-fighter, who jumped in mid-air to 'catch' her. She delivered a weaker strike to them.

Once Relvin landed, and the fist-fighter almost lost his footing, she swiped the feet of the nunchaku handler, resulting in them clumsily toppling over. The battle axe wielder had recovered from their revelation and charged back to her to attempt to land another blow. Relvin had took notice of that, prepared to make another upward strike with her fan, only to be kicked in the back by the weaponless figure.

Meanwhile, the tonfa user seemed to be keeping a distance. They carefully observed their comrades' movements as well as the honeydew-head's.

Shoving mercy aside, the fist-fighter concentrated Hatsu into their fist and prepared to deliver their next attack. It all failed when an item sliced them in the back of the neck, though. They lifted their head only be met with the sight of their other 'companions,' who had been sliced in the nape of their necks as well. Relvin used the opportunity to send a hammer kick directly into their stomach. They knocked against the ceiling before touching the smooth carpet of the mansion's floors again.

"Fandango." Relvin spoke. She stood up straight, and another fan spun into her direction. She caught it in her right hand with ease. "Julienned kaki."

Two fans; the second was readily open to reveal that it had a persimmon tree as its design.

The tonfa user seemed intrigued, to signify the least. The others they banded with, however, fell. Not due to the sudden shock, but because the solid force the fan demonstrated against the back of their necks.

Relvin, now with both hands, posed and prepared to guard herself from swift jabs. To her surprise, the tonfa wielder motioned for her to follow them. They popped through the open space and made their way to the roof with ease. She cocked an eyebrow. However, she wouldn't refuse the proposal. She much preferred to fight in less confined spaces anyway.

The only issue would be getting to the roof.

Relvin lifted herself onto the outer ledge of the windowsill and raised her head. Other than more windowsills, there wasn't much of a way to climb up. She knew she had two options; one, to windowsill hop – just as the shadowy figure _now_ on the roof had done – or two, rock climb. She smiled and thought to herself, _Why not both?_

Fans still slid open, she stabbed into the exterior walls of the mansion and used both of her weapons to reach the roof. She utilized the other window ledges as foot support. It was a good plan, and she was making excellent progress up the roof. The tonfa user didn't seem interested in trying to knock her down, either. Perhaps they wanted a fair fight.

A few more lifts before Relvin finally reached a ledge of the roof. She grasped it with several fingers – no thumb support – and swung herself onto it. The shadowy person got into a fighting stance.

Relvin could actually see them better now, too. They were completely clad in black with a full mask on. It definitely explained why they were harder to see in the dark hallway she had been in.

 _Hmm, I guess Lady Ethelle forgot to turn those lights on._

She stood, then held her fans up to guard. The masked person ran up to her and several kicks from them commenced. Relvin blocked them all, however when they swiped at her feet, she almost lost her balance. She made an upward slash with her left fan as a self-defense mechanism. The shadowy person's sleeve was torn, and blood was drawn.

Ignoring the minor wound, they jabbed at her with a tonfa, only to find that she had rolled to the gap between their feet and slid through. She then used both feet to kick them in the back. They tumbled over to a further side of the roof. Relvin followed and placed both feet on their back with brute force, pinning them down completely.

"Alright, who are you and why in the world are you doing this for a lasagna recipe?" she asked.

The person coughed. "Lasagna recipe? Don't be injudicious. That silly thing is the last thing on our minds."

Relvin was rudely awakened. All this time she figured they had come to steal the recipe. But then again, she suddenly remembered that the family _automatically came to the conclusion that the trespassers were after it_. She would've slammed a palm against her face if they weren't both being occupied with fans.

"What is your team's objective, then?" she asked.

A gruff tone followed. "Are you pea-brained? This family owns a fortune. Not only that, but a _particularly precious gem_ in their treasure vault as well."

"What?!" Relvin exclaimed. She then registered the simple fact that she might have known which 'precious gem' the intruder was referring to.

* * *

Zerik found himself surrounded by five of the damned black-clad people in a large dining hall – a setting he would least wanted to engage in combat in. Still, the Lady did say that her father would cover the repair costs….

 _No, no… That would only be a burden for her father_ , he thought.

In the meantime, one of the figures didn't hesitate at all to flip a dining table in his direction. All of the nice, clean dishes slid off and shattered. The sound was devastating.

… _.Too late._

Zerik sighed and back dashed just in time for a butter knife to stab the spot he had been standing in. Avoiding further damage to the dining hall was inevitable.

Dashing to another table, he grabbed five glamorous pieces of a china set. He infused the dishes with Shu and flung them toward the enemies like a discus to an open field. The assailants dodged the porcelain with ease, except for one who meant to guard yet ended up getting hit in the nose. A screech of pain from somewhere followed.

The other four ignored their hurt comrade and instead rushed for other deadly tools; forks and knives. Zerik knew better than anyone in else in the room that unless infused with Shu, those tools wouldn't put up much of a fight. Forks were hurled at him, still, and snatching an elaborate serving spoon, he was able to fend them off without trouble.

He thought the revenge of the forks was finally over until they rained down from above. He was grazed in the head with one, but as it was only a fork (surprisingly not Shu-suffused), it didn't carry much of a threat _. Just a slight cut_ , he reassured himself. He then faced straight ahead only to be met with knives approaching him. He sidestepped.

Surprisingly, the knives followed him. He underestimated them. Using the serving spoon from before, he swiped the utensils away. A good portion of them fell to the ground, however the rest were pretty persistent in their pursuit and continued to trail around with him. Zerik wondered if this was one of the intruders' abilities. _But which and what exactly?_

In the meantime, the other four seemed to be struggling to hold onto their utensils.

 _Huh? They aren't throwing any more knives?_ He thought as he continued to ward off possessed poltergeist silverware. He then raised his head to see the fifth member standing on a fancy chandelier, focusing their hands on something. _Now_ it became obvious to Zerik. The determined knives, the enemy attacking from a considerably higher position, the strange behavior of the others – the idle four were just duplicates – puppets – and the fifth was concentrating on the knives instead of them. It was determined to be true when he used Gyo.

Knives shrouded in aura; someone's Nen. It was the same with the other four attackers, except theirs unceasingly depleted the longer he glanced at them.

And he found himself hit in the head with an antique oil lamp for not paying attention to his true target.

 _Ow, okay. That was my own fault_ , he contemplated while rubbing his head. He then noticed the oil lamp he was hit with, lying on the ground just a few inches away from him. _They have these here?_ No, that was perfect. Before he was rained with more kitchen weaponry, he peered over to the nearest table to see if there were any more of the lamps. He saw one.

Zerik stood up straight and surveyed his sole attacker, who seemed quite preoccupied with trying to round up a bunch of butcher knives that had fallen onto the floor.

"So, we're both Manipulators. That's nice to know." he verbalized. A ' _Tch_ ' sound from the puppeteer followed. They didn't waver to catch the butcher knives in their own dirty hands and infuse them with Shu.

After hearing the displeased response, Zerik stressed, "What? This should be fun!" He then rolled up the longer sleeve on his asymmetrical uniform shirt. There, on his right arm, was a detailed tattoo depicting a rather baleful reptile.

"Appear before this mark and fulfil your duty; this is an order! Edeidus!"

Before Zerik could become assaulted with deadly butcher knives, a small and thin, yet lengthy beast spawned from the tattoo. Strangely enough, the illustration disappeared from his arm. No, the creature _was_ the illustration on his right arm. And with the flick of its tail, the beast whipped the butcher knives away with ease – like a pinball struck by a paddle.

The Manipulator quickly switched back to using the duplicates. On the other hand, Zerik glimpsed at the table directly under the chandelier. It wasn't long until he was met with the four 'assailants' from not too long ago. He honestly didn't miss them.

"Edeidus…" he began, but instead of getting in contact with his familiar, he was met with fists from an attacker. He easily blocked the punches. He slugged them in the face to give them a taste of their own medicine. When it began to clench its deformed face, Zerik tried to do the same with another, who attempted to sneak up on him from behind. He missed.

That was when the serving spoon came in handy again. With his other hand, he infused the spoon with Shu and jabbed the puppet in the stomach. It moved back and coughed. In the meantime, the other marionettes climbed the walls in attempt to attack from above. Zerik took notice of it and decided to spend the little amount of time used while they climbed to communicate with Edeidus.

The basilisk seemed quite fascinated in watching the strange shadow beings climb. However, it was interrupted when taking notice of its owner signaling to shoot. The beast mentally sighed and inhaled. The pursuers, on the other hand, stopped climbing and kneeled against the walls to prepare for takeoff. They had knives in hand, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Too late.

Edeidus regurgitated a pudgy purple orb toward one of the puppets. At the time of its reaction, the assailants pushed against the wall to propel themselves to Zerik. Instead, one of them clashed with the orb. The goo sizzled and cracked, and in a matter of seconds the puppet was completely devoured by it.

 _Sissen Sphreule._

The puppet inside melted completely. Steam rose from all sides of the orb, and as if it was satisfied, it sizzled more and exploded. Purple goo splattered in all directions.

Zerik grabbed Edeidus and rolled out of the way. He could see that the other three puppets were hit by the slime as well. It fizzed as it ate through them, leading them to their deaths. Edeidus burped toxic remains.

The Manipulator, still on the chandelier, hesitated a bit. They had used up copious amounts of Nen attacking and simply trying to keep up with Zerik. Now they had to deal with a vacuous poison-breathing mini dragon? They front flipped from the fancy light source and ventured the room to flee. Nope – they weren't even going to bother. Unfortunately for them, the room had become a big mess, so it was hard to navigate.

"Not so fast!" Zerik yelled. He ran to the table that hadn't been wrecked – the one underneath the chandelier with the tall oil lamp – and gripped the table cloth on it. Using his strength, he tossed the royal blue blanket across the room and it slid. As the other Manipulator found stairs to an exit that lead to a library section of the first floor, the oil lamp cracked and spilled around the room and also down the stairs. Zerik smirked.

Edeidus didn't have to be told what to do next. Once it saw the flammable oil, it was well set on its next action; to _set it to flames_.

With a brief inhale and exhale, Edeidus breathed a small fire onto the flammable substance. It grew and spread. Zerik snatched a cold tea pot and tossed it into the spreading fire. It grew tremendously.

The remainder of the group of five – the puppeteer, ran for their dear life. In the process, they slipped over oil that spilled over the stairs and fell. As a resort, they half-dragged, half-slid their way down the greasy stairs holding back a thunderous scream.

The fire eventually got to them.

Meanwhile, Zerik and his basilisk were trapped inside a flaming dining room.

"It's a grease fire, so there's no use in finding water to put it out." Zerik stated, "Let's worry about our own safety and GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" With one speedy movement, he scooped up Edeidus and forced his way to the only exit – the windows. Together they burst through glassy shards to be met with hard turf, and the sweet, sweet smell of freshly cut grass.

"Thanks for a job. Well done."

* * *

On the second floor by the stairs was little Naveru, dealing with five of the pesky masked people – if they were even human. She wondered about that, too. The only aroma she could pick up from them was the scent of their clothing. It smelled like freshly washed clothes. At least they had that.

Naveru shook her head and concentrated on the _enemies_ , and not on how their clothing smelled. One seemed to be holding twin daggers in both hands, two others with swords; long and short, the fourth was holding a long-ranged pike. So far, pretty normal weapons; medieval, even. But the last one – they were holding…. a very sizable syringe.

 _What the heck could that be used for?_ She wondered. _No, no… Think. The daggers, swords, and pike are probably weapons that have been hand-crafted. That syringe, though,_ Naveru gulped, _perhaps it's a conjured weapon? It is rather unique._

The thought of syringes didn't settle well in her head. _It feels like my fear of needles is surfacing once more…_

In a flash, the dagger-wielder appeared behind her and placed a blade to her neck. She was able to get a glimpse at the swordsmen getting into a strange stance and the spearman forming something off the tip of the pike. Whatever it was on the spear, it was only going to continue to grow bigger. Naveru delivered a back kick to the one seizing her.

"Alright! Enough of this easy mode nonsense!" Naveru yelled, throwing off her fox-pawed gloves and attaching them to her waist. Her enemies didn't seem to be the least bit bothered, however the dagger-wielder wanted to become even. Just as they were about to stick a knife into her arm, a long, stringy object twisted itself around it. The attacker found that they were unable to pull their weapon out from the 'ropes,' and when they looked up, they could see more of them.

"Climbing Plants!"

Vines rapidly erected from Naveru, viciously wrapping themselves around the enemy on target. Vine after vine, the plants blanketed the assailant until only the arm holding the trapped dagger could be seen.

The syringe bearer made a run for it, while the swordspeople, alarmed, rushed to help their companion from a confined state. The one with the short blade sliced through a vine as a test to see whether the blade would cut through without the use of Nen. It didn't work. The long-sworded fellow, on the other hand, used Gyo and was met with the sight of vines shrouded in Nen. They then focused Gyo to their arm to use Ryu, which managed to block a ferocious trailing plant from wrapping itself around it. In response, the vine withered.

The short-sword user took the silent advice of their comrade and used a similar tactic; applying Shu to extend their Ten around the sword. This allowed them to slash through Naveru's Climbing Plants as if they were spoiled pineapples; soft and pliable. However, the quantity of vines only increased the more they slashed through using their Nen. They knew doing so would only tire them out after some time. Stepping back – and realizing saving their confined, possibly dead companion was futile – the sword-wielders looked to the spearperson for help.

With fortune in their favor, the pike-wielder finished forming the small figure on the tip of their weapon's blade, prepared. Naveru took notice of it and attempted to grab the leister with her Climbing Plants. She was too late, though. The foreign object was stabbed by the weapon and dispersed, forcing her to retract her vines.

The smaller, cube-like figures split up, but they were all headed to the same target; Naveru. The petite woman shrouded her Nen vines around herself in defense, triggering the release of her prisoner. The cubes exploded once coming in contact with the organic matter. It caused great damage, and many of Naveru's Nen vines shriveled up to their deaths. Smoke followed.

"Cannon balls…" Naveru whispered to herself. She was shielding herself from the possibly dangerous smoke. "Or, perhaps, cannon _cubes_." She then stepped back from the rubble created, the heel of her foot knocking against the hilt of a dagger. _Did I kill that trespasser from before?_ Turning her head to scan the area, she couldn't find their body. _Welp, they already lost their blades._

 _On the contrary, I have used up quite some Nen flailing vines around. Is it possible to keep it up? No.. I should switch back to brute force._ Naveru was just about to step out of the smoke-circle when a sudden thought crept up on her. _What happened to the syringe user?!_

Before she could find out the answer to her question, a long sword slashed around the area. She couldn't see the controller, however she did notice that the sword was much longer than it should have been. _They extended it…_

Naveru burst out of the fogged section and rushed her way to the enemies. Without a concrete plan in mind, she hopped onto the extended blade of the long-sworded user. A Ryu-infused kick to the face was sent their way, the other assailants just catching on, and without a doubt, she broke their neck. They fell to the ground like a helpless bird with no wings.

The other swordperson raised their blade above their head before swinging it into the carpeted floors. A wave made of Nen then emitted from the blade and began to travel, growing bigger and bigger the more it sliced through the ground. Naveru hopped over it to avoid it. However, she was sliced across the right thigh and started bleeding.

The pike-wielder, taking up a fencer stance, began to deliver swift jabs her in attempt to use the moment to their advantage. She was able to dodge the blows with some difficulty – her thigh was becoming numb – and summoned a vine to capture the spear. Unfortunately, another cube-like figure formed off of the weapon and blew the vine to shreds. The confident swordperson created more waves to back her into a corner much further.

Naveru ducked and rolled, heading down the stairs. With each step came a painful bump to a body part. She knew it was better than possibly losing her head in an expensive mansion, though. Just as she thought she was finally reaching the end of the staircase, she hit something – something that did NOT feel like a step at all.

When she recovered (and noticed that the swordsperson and spearperson hadn't followed her down yet), she was met with a giant syringe.

"OH MY CRULLER!" she exclaimed, holding back a scream. The person with the syringe seemed more than a little surprised. They had been trying to flee the whole time, not wanting anything to do with her and her vines. Unfortunately for them, Naveru's self-defense mechanism involved erecting vines from her arm.

They squeaked in response.

 _Huh?_ Up until then, she hadn't heard a voice or a sound from any of the masked people. Were they actually human after all? She fastened vines around them before they could try to escape again to test. To Naveru's surprise, it sounded like they were suppressing a muffled scream. She smirked in response.

 _Maybe I can use this to my advantage_ , she contemplated. Granted, she had no idea of what powers the syringe possessed – not that she was really interested, she was deadly afraid of needles – but she had an idea on what it could be.

"Hey," she started, looking to the cowardly attacker fiercely, "your syringe is used to inject fluids that accelerate the healing process, right?"

The person only wiggled in response, trying to loosen to vines. Naveru tightened them and a muffled sound came after.

"Answer me, or it'll get even worse from here." she sternly stated. "Nod for yes, shake your head for no." She placed a finger to her chin and considered their current position. "Eh, you know what? Do anything else other than nodding your head for no."

They hesitantly shook their head to signify their reply.

She then proceeded to tickle them with a tendril. "Then is it used for wounding, such as, say, with chemicals or dangerous substances?" Muffled laughs could be heard, but shortly after, they shook their head again. Dissatisfied with the progress she was making, Naveru decided to take it to another level.

"Is it used for restoring _Nen_?"

Though the mask figure hesitated once more to respond, she received a reply in the form of very quick nods.

 _Ahhh.. So that explains why they were running away. That syringe is not a combat weapon._ She freed them, and they scrambled to get up only to slip over their own feet and fall again. _It's injected into the body to trigger the accumulation of Nen._

She was prepared to face the stairway again, expecting her enemies to have already arrived by then, but to her surprise life threw something else at her.

"W-Wait!" a muffled voice yelled, "I-I'll leave you alone – or, or, tell you more of m-my medical instrument if you swear you won't kill me!"

Naveru eyes widened. Not only had she heard an actual noise from an intruder, but an actual coherent sentence as well? Things were getting interesting, and she knew just killing them off would most likely end up to her disadvantage if carried out.

"Come along, then. I'll knock out your 'friends' and see what I can do about you."

* * *

"Vector Field!"

 _Clash_

"Vector Field!"

 _Bang_

"Vector Field!"

…

On a large balcony attached to the third floor, at three twenty-two in the morning, was Bakk-Tiel battling a band of trespassers.

No, actually, _a trespasser_. Three were already down, and by merely the way their bodies buzzed gave away that it was from a shock from one of his most useful defensive abilities; _Vector Field_.

"Man, won't you just give up already?" he asked, annoyed. "Vector Field!"

The last masked person standing was proving to be quite a nuisance for him. No matter how many times he put up a force field around himself, they'd only continue to attack or guard.

The person, who resisted breaking a sweat – and their sanity during the entirety of the one-sided 'battle' – stood on top of a potted cactus. They then neatly folded their legs and sat down. Bakk-Tiel wasn't amused.

 _They're waiting for me to do something other than this,_ he thought, _Ah, well, if I can't beat 'em this simply, maybe I should find some other way to drain their energy… Oh, I know just what to do!_

As the invader watched his actions with little interest, he erased his Vector Field and grinned.

"You know this Nen stuff?" he suddenly asked them, "I still don't think I understand it fully."

No response.

"I mean, they say that your Hatsu ability should match your personality and everything, but mine…!" he cringed, "It contrasts with my personality completely!"

The assailant cracked their knuckles.

Bakk-Tiel took notice of the gesture, but raised his arm. "See this bracelet made of kunzite? It's supposed to aid with focus, concentration, meditation, as well as some other things like-"

Nearly receiving a crushing blow to the face, Bakk-Tiel raised his force field once more. His attacker's shoe was nearly burnt in the process. They managed to do a quick back flip and return to their spot above the cactus before their foot could become completely scorched, though. Surely, they were skilled in acrobatics.

It reminded Bakk-Tiel of Relvin on a good day.

"Nope! Still no cookie." he stated, shaking his head in disapproval. The enemy only remained quiet and still.

"Anyway, back to my story. You've seen Vector Field, which in the world of physical science would translate to a force field – hah, yeah. You knew that. But in the world of sci-"

Another kick to the head missed; the assailant nearly losing their right leg to yet another force field.

"In the world of science…."

A sweep coming to the legs – Missed. Again.

Bakk-Tiel sighed, "You're too persistent. Can't you see? I'm only going to continue to raise a force field… Anyway, where was I again?"

Had the attacker not been masked, or concealing their emotions, they probably would have been hot, hot, _hot_ – angry. Or at least he'd like to think so. It was strange, though. The same exact process had been going on for nearly thirty minutes and the intruder never decided to throw in the towel, let alone try to run away.

 _Is the recipe really worth the effort?_ he wondered.

"In the world of science," he began again, but his thoughts were clearly somewhere else. _Persistent, uneager to open up, swift, athletic, and stubborn… Hey, that sounds like most-!_

Bakk-Tiel then gasped.

"Wait! That's it! I know now! It all makes sense!" he exclaimed, "You're a _**woman**_!"

The enemy seemed unamused now, if they were displaying anything at all.

"You are one, aren't you?! That would explain EVERYTHING!" he sniggered.

Instead of bothering to give some form of reply to confirm his 'statement,' the supposed 'female' assailant raised 'her' arms over 'her' head and focused on the quiet atmosphere.

 _I believe that triggered something_ , Bakk-Tiel contemplated.

The wind quickly shifted from calm and silent to ear-splitting and savage.

 _Yup! It did!_

He watched as the potted plants other than the cacti began to twist wildly. Branches broke off and flew toward him, and he forced them out of his way with his arms. _Would this be wind manipulation?_ he faintly asked himself, then noticed the motioning of the attacker's hands. Bakk-Tiel used Gyo to get a better look.

 _Artificial gusts mostly made up of Nen, created by their aura. I assume the winds from the south that occasionally flew by earlier are mixed in it as well._ he thought, _Judging by the range the Nen gust covers – which is quite small in open space, but covers enough ground here – they'll probably whip it in my direction. Explains why they selected such a strategic location..._

"Sheesh, dragging me up here for this!" he exclaimed. A blast of wind headed his way. In response, he deactivated Gyo to put up a force field. "Vector Field!"

The gust of wind continued to strike, piercing through his shield and nearly blowing him away. He stuck his foot into the balcony's floor for traction.

 _Ah, yeah. I forgot that Vector Field is not much of use against some of the elements… Especially if they're somehow infused with Nen._ Bakk-Tiel erased his force field, resisting the urge to cringe. He was then surprised by the sight of three unconscious bodies being flung his way. _HOLY HELL!_

Fighting against the Nen-created wind current, Bakk-Tiel forced himself into a crouched position and proceeded to roll just barely out of the way. The gale-producer's companions rapidly flew by – one slamming against the balcony's railing, two headed off for an unconscious journey to the moon.

Bakk-Tiel would have sighed if it was possible. _Wow! That was close!_ He lifted a hand to his head, realizing he could move freely again. There was the stale wind again, with a very slight breeze following. The windstorm had come to a halt. _Or, more accurately, the artificial Nen winds retracted._

He then looked up to see that his theory was indeed true. The sole aggressor was shrouded in their own Nen winds, beating at the more loose particles of their clothes as they stood on top of the potted cactus.

 _That cactus is rather cute… Why don't we have one of those at The Scirocco?_ Bakk-Tiel shook his head. _What the hell am I thinking? Eyes on the enemy!_

"What is it with girls and violent reactions to snarky comments?" he asked his assaulter, "You see it all the time lately." _Come on, throw some more of that air this way!_ "Ah! It must be all of the hormone-induced foods these days."

The aggressor held up two hands close together and began to concentrate.

 _A different wind technique?_ Bakk-Tiel pondered.

The wind became ferocious again, but this time it wasn't targeting him. The air focused on the enemy, who seemed to be creating something. The Nen winds were gathering in the small space between their hands and growing larger. Soon, the gusts of air grew too big to be contained, and Bakk-Tiel easily recognized the shape it had formed.

 _T-T-Tornado!_ he gasped. The Nen tornado began to tear up the balcony, sucking in chunks of the pavement, the plants, and even curtains of a nearby window. Knowing Vector Field would be of no use, Bakk-Tiel wondered if he could use another form of Nen to counter the tornado.

 _Hmmm… I could use that, but… It's not exactly 'perfected.'_

As the voracious Nen tornado continued to devour objects, it became more vast. Soon, he found himself being forcibly attracted to it. He held his ground and watched it slowly sweep through the area before him.

 _It shifted from smaller amounts of raging winds to something massive merely by drawing objects in, and maybe even some natural winds. Since this person can imitate the properties of air with their aura, and considering Gyo is needed to actually see it, I'd say they're a…. Transmuter…?_

' _Seeing' wind. Isn't that funny? Well, I hope I'm right._

Without second thoughts (he really couldn't afford any at this point), Bakk-Tiel's own aura went from its regular pacific state to a more rowdy one. Something began to form from his aura.

"Alright, alright. I know you're tired of the vectors, so enough of that…" he sighed, and a portion of his aura parted to form something else. The lawless Nen he exhibited from before became the aura that was split. In mere seconds, it formed into a thin object with a handle at the end. He grasped it.

"Sabre!"

 _Oooooh, that's right. Transmuters and Emitters are the same when it comes to entities created from one's aura; invisible to those who haven't learned Nen. So, it's possible that they could be an Emitter instead…_

 _URGH, HOWEVER IT GOES!_

With his new handheld Nen weapon, he took a step toward the tornado (which he had to use Gyo again to see, how taxing...) and sliced through it. The tool extended and whisked through the wind current, and very soon the tornado lost momentum with gusts of Nen winds separating. The tornado dissipated, ceasing from existence.

The manipulator of the tornado still had yet to break a sweat. They spread out more Nen winds to create multiple tornados, though much smaller than the initial one. They were then sent Bakk-Tiel's way once more.

He managed to slice through them with ease - he and his funny bendable, twisting, and thin whip-like Nen sword. Strangely enough, the Nen winds appeared to become captives of said weapon, and sucked in to it. The natural winds were not affected and instead escaped from their captive state (from the Nen winds), gliding by freely again.

The process of tornados being created and becoming sliced through and sipped by the 'blade' continued a few times before the assailant was finally starting to pant. Yes – they finally began to sweat. The Nen they used up during the process had been quite strenuous on their part.

"Let's wrap this up." Bakk-Tiel said. Lashing a Nensabre around wasn't exactly as effortless as it looked. It took quite some manipulation as well; making the whip function flow in directions he wanted it to move in.

Seeing that the enemy formed their hands in the similar motion from long before – much before they started with the tornados – he allowed his sabre to retract to its thin shape again, being flexible no more. The assaulter allowed their aura to circle above them again and collect. In the meantime, Bakk-Tiel was observing the balcony, which was in a very bad condition – courtesy of the tornados.

 _Err… Is this even safe to walk across anymore…?_

A loud clank followed.

… _I think it's gonna collapse. It might be a good idea to head somewhere el-_

Interrupted mid-thought, he had to dodge a wind current. The railing of the mansion's balcony began to shred on one side.

 _Can't slice through these winds. More importantly…_ He scanned the area for somewhere else to take their little battle to as the Nen wind-user gathered up more air. Above the fourth floor was the roof, but climbing really wasn't his forte. Taking it inside of the building would be no good – much too narrow.

 _Here it comes!_

Ferocious winds beat against the balcony's tiles again; the railings holding on, the plants missing. The attacker was ready to give it their all. And so they did.

More curtains flying away, with railings breaking off and sent soaring. The enemy released a prodigious tempest, and it was only headed straight ahead to their target.

 _I was hoping not to have to use this…_ Bakk-Tiel thought as he watched the blast of air travel his way with Gyo. He then raised his Nensaber and it became flexible once more. Taking up a different shape, he twirled it and held it up to take in the attack like a fool.

"Unorthodox Magnet!"

A large, bright barrier formed before Bakk-Tiel, created entirely by his aura. However, unlike the force fields he created prior to it, the shield appeared to only protect from a strike directly coming to him in front.

The wind was howling, mercilessly throwing tiles into the atmosphere and eating up the rest of the balcony's flooring. It traveled to the shield and with great strength, wind being perhaps the strongest element in the world, seemed to overpower the flimsy shield of Nen. As more and more seconds passed, and as poor Bakk-Tiel struggled to not lose his footing during the scuffle, the Nensabre-now-shield began to absorb the Nen winds; the gale forcibly attracted to it.

…And eventually only leaving the natural winds like before.

The assailant, confused, watched in perhaps horror (perhaps Bakk-Tiel would've preferred to see it as) as their target began to whirl around slightly, dizzily.

"Can't hold i-it in…" their unsteady opponent started, "Ugh… RELEASE!"

And with just those words, his Unorthodox Magnet shattered and all of the Nen content it had absorbed as well as its own from the aura he separated from himself was headed back to their direction – like boiling hot grease being splattered to the face (….or not). The gale returned, the balcony shattered completely, and Bakk-Tiel realized how he never really got over his fear of heights.

 _I absolutely DETEST heights!_ He thought, and his vision suddenly became blurry as he commenced a free-fall from the Ethelle Mansion's third floor. _Not vertigo again…_

He took one last peek at his opponent, who was much long blown away from the impact of their own gale attack; like their other comrades, sent on a journey to outer space. He smiled at the thought of getting to add another crystal to his strange collection.

And then the already-dark world went straight to black.

* * *

 **[Note(s): End of the first part. I'm still new to writing out battle sequences, especially ones involving Nen, so I apologize if some things seem "out there"...**

 **Trivia: Surprisingly enough, Relvin's fans weren't based off of/based around Kalluto's fans at all. Oh... and I probably invented the Nensabre, HAH! (I sure do hope so. :P)**

 **Thank you to anyone who actually followed and/or reviewed my (dumb) story! ^^]**


	6. A Recipe, a Mission, and the Battles (2)

**[Author's Note: Here is the other half of the entire chapter. Enjoy!]**

* * *

"Another cup of tea, please."

Lady Ethelle was extremely bored.

Having nothing to do in an enclosed space – quite literally a highly protected little teahouse in another section of the estate, Layla was not enjoying having her bright pink hair brushed and braided.

Reide, one of her butlers, brought a small porcelain cup of tea and set it on the tea table in front of her. She couldn't help but sigh as she took the cup to her lips to take a sip. Taking notice of her bored demeanor, the servants tried to lighten the atmosphere in the teahouse. After all, a bored Layla would eventually lead to a moody Layla.

"C-Care for some tea biscuits, my dear Lady?" the maid named Yvonne asked. It sounded quite awkward, even to the maid's own ears.

"Ah, yes," the other maid, Umeld, added, "There's a newer flavor of those tea biscuits you so love, my dear Lady. Would you like to try some..?"

Having Umeld and Bristel do her hair was probably a bad idea, or so Layla thought. They seemed to be doing two entirely different things; Umeld doing the braiding, Bristel with the brushing. Lady Ethelle could easily see through their timidness. She shook her head as a reply to the request.

"Would you like some more tea, then?" Reide asked, holding up a pot of tea.

"No thank you."

To save herself from her boredom, Layla began to recollect lines from the conversation she had with Alanessa before they parted.

* * *

" _It's quite clear that you're strong. Why haven't you taken them down yourself?"_

A coy grin spread across Layla's face. She didn't bother to face the other woman.

" _I'm the Lady of the house. I shouldn't have to fight, now should I?"_

Alanessa gave a nod. She then began to slowly disappear into nothing.

* * *

 _Fighting alongside those disorderly five sounds a lot more interesting than being in this dull place_ , she contemplated, _Why must I be permitted to sit around all day like a doll? And if I marry, I'm still not truly free…_

Layla stood up from her posh seat; the two servants 'styling' her hair interrupted and surprised. She then slammed a fist down onto the table. Her tea cup, which had been long refilled, tippled over and caused a small puddle.

"Is sitting around and staring at fancy china going to protect my great-grandmother's recipe? No, it isn't." Layla voice suggested some irritation, as well as aggression.

What her servants feared was beginning to come true. Bristel stepped up and decided to speak to calm the Lady Ethelle's nerves. "My dear Lady, please calm down. Surely, those skilled Hunters ha-"

"Lady or not, to fight for the protection of a dear secret should have been something I needed to deal with myself. I should have just decided to battle off the intruders the day after my first bodyguards were killed; some of your fellow servant friends, too." She expressed dismay with her response, "Tell me, Bristel, how long has it been since I've last put my Hatsu ability to use?"

Just as the brave butler braced himself to give out an even more depressing reply to the Lady's question, a certain fan-wielding Gourmet Hunter burst into the teahouse to spread shocking news.

"LADY ETHELLE!" Relvin shouted, "Lady Ethelle!"

Astonished by the sudden wake-up call, Layla stood up straight and her servants quickly got around cleaning the puddle mess from the spilled tea.

"Relvin, dear," Layla started, "what are you-"

"Terrible news! They weren't after the lasagna recipe all along! They want your precious gem!"

The pumpkin-skinned woman was panting heavily. She had been running all around the manor in search of Layla to tell her about the bombshell laid upon her on the roof of the mansion.

"Your Dreamstone."

The servants gasped. Their Lady gasped even louder.

"W-Wh-What…?!" she exclaimed, suppressing a scream with a gloved hand, "B-But…

…I left Alanessa with the recipe, and the treasure vault wide open as a trap…!"

* * *

Left to wander a dark, but clean cellar was no one else but Alanessa. In her right hand was an antique lamp. It was just enough to illuminate herself as well as a considerable portion of the area her booted feet stepped upon, however not enough if she wanted to catch crafty trespassers.

 _But it's better this way_ , she thought to herself.

Used to traveling in pitch-black conditions – and filthier basements at that – she had grown accustomed to the darkness, and bluntly, found comfort within it.

 _Three thirty-five in the morning, still no signs of human activity_ , she contemplated, _Oh, the eatery was closed early for this…_

She trailed on a little longer before she found herself a nice and humble seat made of wood. Next to her was a bookshelf, dusty and covered with webs. She assumed the basement hadn't been touched, let alone cleaned, in a long time prior to the failed heists of the intruders. The lamp barely lit it enough to reveal a book of ancient sports. The thick webbing attached to the book suggested that it had been home to more than one spider.

Alanessa shook her head slightly, facing the lamp as she placed it on a nearby seat of cypress. Her eyes dared to turn that bland color of ghostly white.

"Come out, come out wherever you are." she crooned.

Realizing how futile it was to wait for the enemy to walk into her own web, she headed to the bookshelf and lit it enough so that she could see the second shelf. Other than the one on ancient sports, there were many others, such as novels, books on endangered animal species, autobiographies, and poems – all over a hundred years old. Alanessa then applied Gyo to her sight.

"What's this?"

She found one of the books shrouded in someone's aura; a book on urban legends. Curious and intrigued, she removed it from the shelf, resulting in a slight tug-of-war battle the bookshelf and ending with swarms of dust floating away. Her next five minutes were spent carefully reading through it.

Oh, how ghost legends captivated most of her interest.

Alanessa proceeded to close the book after the five minutes went by. She was growing tired of waiting for the prey.

"Perhaps they are here, but are much too bashful to reveal themselves." she said, shaking her head in disapproval. She then placed her palm down onto the table, and a little fading note appeared.

The lasagna recipe.

She toyed with it a bit (since Lady Ethelle forbade her from reading it). It disappeared when she closed her palm, then appeared again with she opened the hand up. She began to faintly recall a piece of the conversation she had with the Lady of the mansion.

* * *

Alanessa held a bead in her left palm given to her by Layla. She whispered something, and within seconds, the object seemed to disappear from both of their sights.

" _This is an ability I have; Hammerspace. It allows me to take an item and seal into an extra-dimensional storage room using my left palm. With ease, it can be brought back by holding up the palm for more than six seconds."_

Layla was quite intrigued by this discovery. _"It sounds promising, but does it have any limits?"_ A nod followed.

" _I can only effectively carry one insentient item, and it has to weigh under nine hundred and seven kilograms. When the object is sealed, I can't use this hand for strenuous activity lest I might drop it."_ Alanessa explained, " _In more extreme cases, however, such as a heavy item, I must keep this palm closed at all times or else the same result will happen, or one even more severe – the item is lost in the extra-dimensional space forever."_

" _The heavy costs of keeping an object safe… I don't believe a piece of tattered, fading paper could cause you much trouble, though, could it?"_

" _No, I should be fine as long as I rarely use this arm."_

" _Hopefully that won't be a problem, then. Now, there's another one right? Another ability?"_

" _Well…"_

* * *

Just as she was about to close her hand once more for the umpteenth time, the sound of shrieking wind pierced her hearing – but only slightly. She turned her head to be met with the sight of the bookshelf lacking books. Instead, the books were in midair, floating. Coming for her.

"Poltergeist books." Alanessa stated with interest.

"Too bad it isn't so." The paranormal books were charging into her direction at a fast speed, ripping through the stale air of the basement before it could even holler. The books' flight was going smooth and soon to surely land a direct hit somewhere – that is, until the books flew over a humble table and one knocked over the lamp. It broke, causing sparks to spill and crackle.

One book 'survivor' stood tall once more, switching directions constantly to see where it had landed a hit.

It did not strike anywhere.

The fidgety floating book squirmed in midair as it realized its failure. Meanwhile, in the distance, a tall woman with gray hair was putting out a small lamp fire.

"'Tis quite a shame such antique treasures had to turn into this."

Alanessa sat herself on top of a large pile of ruined books.

* * *

" **Briar!** "

A certain petite young woman was just finishing off her final criminal, who was penetrated by hundreds of small thorns from what was once coils of suffocating vines.

On the other hand, her new 'companion' was shivering in a corner nearby.

"Well, that's taken care of." Naveru announced excitedly, wiping her hands off on her plaid skirt and right thigh, which she used one of her oven mittens to bandage up. "Don't worry – they aren't dead."

She quickly added, "…Or at least they shouldn't be!"

The mysterious syringe-wielder nodded timidly prior to standing up straight again. Even when they were standing up, they still seemed to be shivering slightly. Naveru sighed and the vines retracted back into her body – much to the distaste of any viewers near the stairway, had there been any.

"Would you quit it already? C'mon, it's getting late and I have to search for my coworkers."

"C-Coworkers?" the wriggling ex-enemy asked.

Naveru nodded. "What, you thought I came here all alone to crush all twenty of your friends?" Noticing she wasn't receiving a response from the only other person, she motioned for them to follow her while she headed toward a corridor.

And so they ran.

The shorty had to admit, she was quite impressed that her new little friend could run so quickly despite dragging an abnormally large syringe around. Just a peek at the instrument's needle and she felt something crawling over different parts of her skin.

"So, er, your syringe can be used to restore Nen, correct?" she asked them.

The masked ex-foe briskly nodded in response.

"Sounds incredibly useful. There must be a big price to pay for it."

They nodded again. "I can only use it for restoration when a user's aura has depleted heavily, or if they are unconscious."

"So, your buddies brought you along with them knowing they were going to eat through a lot of Nen." Naveru said thoughtfully. She then turned a corner. The masked person followed.

"Yeah… The one with the spear – uh, she told me to call her Javelin…?" The shorty's interest increased. "The orbs she made with her aura – um, what was it called…? S-S-Something blast…?"

"Oh, just cut to the chase already!" They both turned right to another hallway.

"Those orbs… They use up a good deal of her energy to charge and release. She always utilizes them whenever an undesired enemy shows up." the black-clad figure blurted out.

"So the spear is just for show?" asked Naveru, with much curiosity.

"No, but she rarely uses it for close-range combat. As her c-codename states, it's a throwing spear."

"No wonder!" Naveru grew a small tendril on her shoulder and scratched her head with it. All of a sudden, her companion shrieked and nearly tripped over a broken clump of wall. She creased an eyebrow in response.

"Huh? What is it with you?"

They both stopped in their tracks as Naveru noticed large monoliths blocking a good portion of the hallway. She then turned back to her companion, who was cowering in fear.

"I… I…," they started, "I'm deadly afraid of v-v-vines…!"

Naveru blinked.

"WHAAAAAAT?!"

"I-It's true."

They exchanged looks for many seconds. Well, Naveru couldn't really tell as they were still wearing a mask…

"But why?" she then asked.

"It all started in my uncle's pumpkin patch…"

Naveru came to the realization that asking was probably not a good idea after all. "Okay, never mind! Let's get a move on!"

The other person nodded and stood up again, matching her pace of running once more.

They eventually had to squeeze through a small crater between the monoliths, where Naveru decided to ask, "What's your name anyway?"

"Mine?"

"Yeah. I mean, we've been at each other's sides for more than seven minutes now, so…"

"Oh… I'm Qirise, but my group – o-or now ex-group – called me Pin."

"Pin?" Naveru was stumped. The nickname was odd, especially for a guy.

"Y-Yes, you know, like a tack or push-pin?"

That feeling crawled up her skin again. "Y-Yeah! I can totally see it now!" She then tried to disregard the feeling by speaking once more, "I'm Naveru. I don't go by any fancy nickname or codename as far as I'm concerned, so you can go ahead and just refer to me as my real name."

Qirise nodded.

"What an incredibly strange meeting."

"…Indeed."

"Well, I think I've found a use for you once we return." Naveru snickered.

"…H-Huh?"

Naveru continued, "You're alive and well, but I'm not gonna let that noblewoman send you somewhere terrible."

Qirise was puzzled. "Why not? I-I'm still technically a criminal…"

"You're going to earn a better living then, and start over."

"…W-What?"

However, before any more words could be spoken, they reached an area that had been scorched through completely. Ash was spread out everywhere with remains of rusted utensils lying about, and there was a broken window in the distance making it painfully obvious that someone needed to escape from it.

"FREAKING ZERIK SETTING THINGS ON FIRE AGAIN!"

* * *

 _Twenty meters in the air…. No, now it's thirty-five meters in the air! No, no, no! Not FIFTY!_

"N-No… Not sixty either! Not seventy! None of th-"

"What are you even going on about?"

Bakk-Tiel was back to the world of consciousness. He was welcomed with the sight of a scaled beast hovering over him, and breathing down his neck. His face almost completely lost color as a result.

"WHAT THE-! Oh, it's just you, Edeidus…" he then sat up before the basilisk could get comfortable on top of him. "Wait a minute… You can't talk!"

"Idiot, it's me." a voice that could only belong to Zerik responded.

"You were here this whole time? Oh dear, how long have I been out?" Bakk-Tiel searched for any traces of remaining enemies.

"Dunno. I rushed over here just as I was about to dismiss Edeidus when I saw a body falling from the third floor. That was quite a fall."

The thought of heights made the latter person shiver. "Y-Yeah. How is it that I'm not injured from that, though?"

"Edeidus kind of saved you with a snot bubble."

"….Ew."

The scene then became quiet, with Bakk-Tiel and the mini dragon engaging in a staring contest. Unfortunately for him, though, reptiles like Edeidus couldn't blink.

"-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Huh?" The last time Bakk-Tiel checked, the basilisk couldn't scream… Well, other than the occasional deceptive squeak, it was mainly grunts or growls.

"-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Edeidus, is that really you…?"

Zerik raised a hand. "No, wait." He proceeded to scan the area surrounding them for a bit. "That's…"

"That looks like… No, that IS Lady Ethelle's servants. Why are they running off?" he finished.

It was quite a distance away, however if Bakk-Tiel focused on the four tiny specs running along a neat path made of stone (or perhaps pasta), they really did look like the servants.

"We'd better go after them."

Then, Edeidus was immediately dismissed. The two men began to run off to the direction of the strange sound.

"I knew they were a little awkward at first meeting, but sheesh, her servants are really frantic." The blue-haired Manipulator admitted in between breaths and pants.

"Surely, there must be some kind of reason for this," Bakk-Tiel objected, "It's not like a servant to run off without their mistress."

And that moment was when they noticed it; what exactly the servants were running for. After covering quite some distance, they could see that a few meters ahead of the servants was a figure in a hard-to-miss floating dress with a shawl and another more obvious figure – a pumpkin shaded person with a long ponytail flowing behind them.

"LADY ETHELLE AND RELVIN ARE ALSO ON THE RUN!" Zerik loudly stated.

* * *

More piles of books were stacked on the basement floor; some losing color, some with broken covers. The only source of light came from a small candle, which was lit by the sparks from before.

Another book was sent flying. At a ridiculous speed it was traveling; piercing through stale air and with pages too glued together from being closed for perhaps decades.

It flowed through the body of the thing it was aiming for; Alanessa.

The slender woman was no longer sitting atop a pile of books, however she was completely still. Focusing energy on her eyes, she could see that the books were covered in aura. Obviously not of their own either, as only living things could produce it.

Another book came flying only to be smacked to the ground by one of her fists. She was growing tired of the silly game of cat and mouse.

"Since you don't seem to want to bother showing yourself, how about I find you instead?"

The books were being thrown from their respective shelves; Alanessa knew that much, and she figured it could serve as a clue to where the enemy was hiding. Using a fist infused with her energy, she walked over to the bookshelf and out of the light's reach to deliver a punch. Heavy damage was inflicted, and as a result, one of the bookshelves split unevenly.

However, she didn't stop there. She sent another hit to the bookshelf next to it. It broke in the same fashion, with chips of old wood tumbling over others and creating lots of dust. Had there been any books on it, they would've splat onto the tall woman, but that wasn't the case. Instead, she could see the wild aura of a witch's cauldron that was hidden carefully between the shelves.

 _No longer concealing their aura, hm?_

Just as Alanessa was literally about to get her hands on the cauldron, something struck her in the back – something she failed to notice before. With a slight yelp, she realized blood was trickling from her back. She turned to see bright yellow irises accompanied by a wet, pink nose. Below the nose was a slightly bloody and bladed disk, with a handle within creature's jaws. It proceeded to carefully lick the blade.

"A cat?" Alanessa asked. She did not remember Lady Ethelle mentioning killer cats roaming around the estate, or any animals for that matter. Using Gyo once more, she could see that the cat was shrouded in an aura as intense as the cauldron's from before.

 _Oh... So that's your abilities,_ she thought to herself calmly before she went to deal with the kitty. It started to run in response.

"Must be difficult to run away when you have a twenty-five centimeter chakram hanging out of your mouth." she said as she jogged after the cat, easily flowing through obstacles as if they weren't there.

* * *

" _Phase Shift,"_ Alanessa spoke as she extended an arm to Layla's forehead. The receiver of the action watched patiently as the arm went through what would've been her skull. She didn't actually feel the arm, however the warmth of the taller woman's aura was present outside of her head.

" _Using this, I'm able to freely move through spaces, obstacles, and even people with no problem. I can't touch or be touched. However, it's still possible to remain seen by the human eye."_ She then extracted her arm. _"I can use Hammerspace with Phase Shift simultaneously, and it actually makes it slightly easier to not use my left arm."_

" _But-"_

" _Yes, the presence of my Nen is still there."_ Alanessa interrupted, _"I'm unable to use Zetsu in this state, but one could say there really is no need to, being immune to touch and everything that comes with it."_

Layla creased an eyebrow. _"And the flaws?"_

" _The inability to touch means I can't attack either. Any offense or Nen infused attacks are rendered useless. I couldn't even extend my Nen to an object if I wanted to."_

" _So, it's the type of thing you'd use to flee…"_ Layla said thoughtfully.

Alanessa nodded. _"It's also good to mention that it isn't taxing on my energy too much, but that's also a result of intensive training…"_

The woman with eyes the tint of hot pink continued, _"On the other hand…"_

* * *

The black cat ran deeper into the basement with Alanessa in hot pursuit. She knew where it was headed and remembered the explanation Lady Ethelle had given about a door further into the cellar. It was the door to the treasure vault below the basement, which she had opened with the assistance of Layla herself.

"Not so fast, kitty!" she exclaimed as she extended her left hand, palm facing up. The recipe she had contained with Hammerspace appeared, and she clutched it tightly before her eyes morphed into a bland state of white.

* * *

" _On the other hand, my last ability that would be of use to you…"_

" _Yes?"_ Layla raised her head to stare at the tall woman in the eyes directly, but was in pure amazement when the tint of hot pink was swapped with a dull, bland white.

" _In this state, I can freely switch from being seen to unseen by any viewer's eyes, and also…."_ she suddenly disappeared, then came into sight again right behind the smaller woman. Alanessa placed a hand over her shoulder. _"Unlike when I used Phase Shift, I can freely touch you at will."_

Layla creased an eyebrow. _"And? Other than the becoming unseen to the eye and being able to freely touch opponents at will, how is this any more useful than Phase Shift?"_

" _I leave no traces of Nen whenever I vanish, leaving the target unsure of where I'll show up again. My senses increase greatly, especially my awareness; plus, I can use Nen whenever I'm in the visible state."_

" _Hmm… The cons?"_

" _If you've noticed, I'm unable to use Hammerspace at the same time."_ In Alanessa's palm was the bead given to her from before. It was still there, visible to the eyes. Layla blinked.

" _Why is this?"_ she asked.

" _They just happen to cancel out each other. One theorist said the cause of the cancellation might possibly be that I'm hopping through extra-dimensional spaces whenever I vanish and reappear, undoing the process of Hammerspace, but again; it was just a theory."_

The tall woman proceeded, _"Also, my eyes go through a metamorphosis. The change in color to white leaves my eyes only able to percept things in black and white."_ In an instant, Alanessa reappeared in front of Layla. _"If I'm in this state for too long, my vision becomes blurry. If prolonged, I suffer from visual impairment – which can take up to a week to recover from… There's nothing I can do about it, either."_ She thought to herself with a slight mental cringe, _Well, other than wear those tacky glasses.._.

Layla placed a finger on her chin in thought. _"Anything else?"_

" _Oh,"_ the taller woman quickly butted in, _"One more thing, though I'm not really sure if it'd really be a flaw…"_

" _Yes?"_

Alanessa coughed. She knew that she had been explaining the ability to the Lady for more than five minutes. Raising a hand subtly, she pointed to her head.

" _Wow!"_ Layla exclaimed. A long strand of the now white-eyed woman's hair was standing up straight as if it could care less about gravity.

" _This…"_ Alanessa briefly finished, now cringing. _"There's nothing I can do about this either. I don't even know why it happens."_ She then thought to herself, _And I still need to find out why this happens…_

Layla couldn't help but let out a small, girlish chuckle. Hunters were really something. She had never seen anything like it prior to their little conversation.

Subsequently, Alanessa's eyes switched back to their normal shade of hot pink and she let out a deep breath. She didn't want Layla to know that the ability also took a toll on her energy.

" _What's the name of this one, dear Alanessa?"_ Lady Ethelle then asked.

Alanessa pursed her lips, preparing for her answer.

" _I call this ability…"_

* * *

"Phantasm!" the woman vocalized at the top of her lungs.

The cat continued to run, successfully making it into the room attached to the basement – courtesy of Alanessa and Lady Ethelle for opening the door – and tripped down a ladder. It landed in a large pile of ancient bronze coins.

The ghostly woman, on the other hand, wasted no time in getting there. With one big swoop, she appeared beside the pile of coins and sent a Nen-infused kick to it. The currency jingled and flew across the room along with the cat. Alanessa grabbed the cat by the neck as it struggled.

"Nice kitty," she mocked, "now drop the weapon."

Unfortunately for her, she underestimated the power of the feline and received a scratch to her right arm. She jerked in response, failing to hold up the cat for long. She clutched her bleeding arm before trying to focus on where the cat ran. To her surprise, the feline didn't run at all. Instead it had taken the form of an entirely different being.

"Nyehehe!" the cat-turned-goblin in front of her cheered. "Thanks to you, I've been led to this mansion's riches, but most importantly, the prized treasure of this country; the Dreamstone."

"What?!" Alanessa vocally expressed. She then held up the ancient lasagna recipe. "I was told you were looking for this!"

"Why would I care about some crumby tattered note?" the hideous creature replied, "Looks like you were sold the wrong information." It cackled once more.

Alanessa cringed. If there was anything she disliked more than greed, a runner-up had to be being played like a fool – and that was partly Lady Ethelle's fault. Unfortunately for her, her sudden fit of emotions due to the slight miscalculation got the best of her and she was grabbed from behind by something.

"-?!"

The pile of bronze coins she flicked with ease from before had magically formed into a golem-like figure. But she had expected something like this to happen – she figured out its ability. No, _their abilities_. She could easily escape from her confined position, however she wanted to see if she could stroke the enemies' egos… and ultimately lead them to their downfall.

"Ouch! You've caught me!" she exclaimed passionately, "Damn it! What kind of Nen ability could possibly trump mine?!" Her faked expressions of terror were followed by a squeeze from the coin-created giant.

"Wait, Embodiment," The goblin commanded, raising its hand, "since this lady is as clueless as she is helpless, it wouldn't be a bother to explain our group-shared secrets prior to crushing her."

The creature then continued, "You see, missy, our abilities are actually quite simple. I'm able to successfully copy the properties and take form of nearly any living thing on the face of this planet, and yes, you guessed it – this form you are seeing now is a result of that."

It then continued, "Embodiment, my partner here, is able to travel as a soul and occupy any inanimate object and control it as she pleases – an amazingly unique kind of Hatsu." The creature picked up a small chunk of silver on the ground before it spoke again. "Normally, you'd only see her occupy one object at a time. However, it is entirely possible for her to split her soul into several smaller fragments, hence the books you were supposed to be hit with before. It's also why you see her as a collective pile of bronze coins right now. Taxing on the aura, but worth it in the end."

"Is that why you've failed to successfully steal the Dreamstone all this time?" Alanessa then asked, faking anger.

The goblin located the Dreamstone atop a shelf made of gold, then expressed annoyance, "No, silly. The reason why we haven't been able to reach this place until now is because this room is locked shut. As much as my team has infiltrated this place, we still have yet to find the key." It then pointed at Alanessa. "You, however, you must've obtained it from the Lady herself and that's when it was opened up. It was the first time this room had been opened up even since our first heist here, too."

"Oh?" Alanessa's grieving expression swapped with a slight smile. "Well then, thanks for the information."

In mere seconds, she disappeared from the coin giant's enormous arms and appeared behind it. The being itself didn't even realize it before it was too late.

 _This one can split their soul into many smaller ones_ , thought the white-eyed woman, _but still, if I'm correct, there should be a main course where all of the smaller ones split from._

… _And if destroyed, that should result in the attacker's end. Souls are much too vulnerable to be by themselves._

Using Gyo, Alanessa could see many different coins with Nen concentrated into them. However, there was one in the dead center harvesting the most energy.

 _Found it._

With one quick action, she was able to target the original soul – the core coin – and grabbed it before she crushed it with her hands. The enemy made up of inanimate objects tumbled, and the coins returned into the lifeless currency they had been originally. 'Embodiment' was dead.

"Wh-?!" the goblin shrieked, but was grabbed by Alanessa's unavoidable right hand. She was tempted to finish it off, however she remembered that the Lady wanted the boss' head.

 _Surely, this is the boss, isn't it?_ she pondered.

She then delivered a swift jab to its stomach, causing the creature to pass out.

"Jokes on you." she announced as the goblin fell to the coin-blanketed ground, dropping the precious gem in the process.

"Now… to fix up the standing hairs on my head."

* * *

"Alanessa!"

"Alanessa!"

"Dear Alanessa!"

"Al!"

A group of nine people were shouting. Particularly an obvious four, who were shouting the name of their lost comrade.

"This is the door to the basement, right?" Bakk-Tiel asked as he pointed to an eerie looking archaic door.

Layla nodded. "Let's hurry!"

With one mighty pull, the door swung open and nine people were rushing down the stairs at the same time. It didn't end very well when they all started to lose their balances.

"Damn it, Relvin! Watch your step!" Naveru shouted after being kneed in the tushy.

"Yeah, well, if you could quit trying to grab onto my ponytail for support, that'd be nice!" Zerik shouted back to the shorty.

Layla giggled with glee at the sight that was unfolding before her. _When was the last time something as intriguing as this happened?_ she wondered.

"Miss Layla, I can carry you if you wish." One of the servants, Reide, offered.

"No, I'm fine. I like this feeling of nearly tripping down the stairs for some reason." she reassured.

As a response to her comment, she received strange looks from her lackeys, but they all tried to shrug it off.

"What the hell! It's completely dark down here!" Bakk-Tiel then exclaimed. They had made it past the creaky stairs leading to the basement. It was pitch black down there, other than a tiny spec of light in the distance.

Relvin pushed the shorty in front of her to get a better view, then squinted her eyes. "No, wait. There's something lit further ahead!"

The poorly organized group continued to rush through the basement until they reached the candle their lost comrade had lit long before. Bakk-Tiel grabbed it.

"This candle, yeah? Let's keep moving now!"

Through much shuffling and occasional annoyed shouts, small laughs could also be heard. They belonged to the Lady of the mansion herself, who was having the time of her life with the impatient Gourmet Hunters. …Even when one of them accidentally stepped on her dress and partially shredded it.

"OH MY GODDESS!" Umeld shrieked in agony, hearing the sounds of tearing that she knew cold only belong to Layla's expensive dress.

Layla smiled, though nobody could see it through the darkness. "Don't worry about it, dear. This dress wasn't made for running in anyway!"

"But my dear Lady, what will your father think of this? He spent-"

"LOOK! THERE'S A LIGHT IN THE GROUND UP AHEAD!" Relvin shouted, which resulted in everyone in the group running even faster – and tripping over more shoes. And eventually they all tripped over each other, and tumbled down like a pile of hay, right in front of the entrance to the treasure vault. The candle they obtained fell over and lost its flame thanks to a boot crushing it.

"My, what have we here?" a familiar voice asked as it returned to higher ground.

"ALANESSA!"

Alanessa entered the basement holding an antique oil lamp, which provided a source of light. On her back was a large vat made of pure gold. Both items were from the vault below, but what was most remarkable was the most awkward pile of people she had ever seen, and frankly, she couldn't help but chuckle a little upon first glance.

"H-Hey! Don't laugh!" Bakk-Tiel squawked.

On top of the pile was the Lady herself, right on top of a Bristel wearing broken glasses.

"Dear Alanessa!"

The tall woman smiled. "It's great to see you all in good shape. But why did you come down here?"

"Why? Because we all found out that you could possibly be in danger!" Zerik stated as a matter-of-factly.

"Oh? Me in danger?" she teased.

Naveru corrected Zerik. "Ugh, he means the Dreamstone, not you!"

Alanessa smiled again and placed the lamp down. Opening up her left hand, the sight of a faded recipe was present along with a tiny, orange gem. Even amongst the darkness, the precious piece of rock brought brightness to the room.

"Whoa… My Dreamstone is safe!" Layla announced with joy. The servants let out sighs of relief when they heard the good news.

Alanessa then walked through the pile of people, signaling for them to follow her out of the basement.

"Come on now, no use in lying there on the ground when we have to turn in this assignment."

* * *

Alanessa set the vat she had been carrying on her back down. Everyone had gathered together at the main hall, and Layla – donning a torn dress and shawl – was standing in front of the five Gourmet Hunters with her servants.

"Thanks to you, my great grandmother's recipe has been preserved along with the Dreamstone." she announced. She then walked over to the golden vat and stuck her hand in. "And the head villain has been caught." Layla pulled out a strange looking white snake. "Eeek!"

"Ssssssssss!" the snake hissed as a reply, partially angry that it had been interrupted from its 'nap.'

Alanessa stood by the vat. "No worries. This creature won't be a bother. It's tied, limb by limb."

"That's the boss?" Relvin asked.

But before the answer to her question could be answered by her employee, a black-clad person ran in yelling.

"I FOUND THE LAST BODIES!"

It was Qirise, and he was dragging and carrying three (possibly dead) bodies. Once he was in the center of the main hall, he placed the bodies down next to a collective pile of other (possibly dead) bodies. "S-Somehow they landed on somebody else's property, like if they were blown away or something…"

"You did it!" Naveru exclaimed with joy. She ran over to the strange black-clad person to pull him into a tight, choking hug. "Thank you so much!"

Qirise wasn't expecting to be hugged by the small girl – especially a TIGHT hug – and he began to suffocate due to lack of air.

". . ."

The entire room lost all color.

". . ."

"A Nen ability that allows one to absorb another's aura by hugging them!" Bakk-Tiel suddenly shouted.

Relvin shrieked, "N-Naveru, watch out! That's another enemy!"

As the four other dopes focused their energy on what they didn't know was an ex-enemy, Layla looked to her servants for assistance. The poor lackeys were confused on whether they should be afraid or ashamed.

"Flying Swallow!" Relvin exclaimed as she tossed a fan toward Qirise and Naveru. To the pumpkin woman's misfortune, Naveru freed herself from the hug and with one swift action, she caught the fan with a hand and shook her head.

"Oh, that's right. I never did introduce you to this guy." She then spoke rather plainly. "This," she pointed to her partner, who was begging for air on the floor, "is Qirise."

"Yes, yes. I know what you're all thinking. 'But Naveru, that's one of the curtain-faced assailants that have been breaking in and killing off the guards in the mansion for the past few weeks!'" Once seeing the contorted reactions of everyone else, she nodded to herself with closed eyes. "Yup, yup. Just what I expected."

"Uh-" Zerik started, but was interrupted.

"He's no longer our enemy. Instead, Qirise is turning over a new leaf! Starting over again from scratch! Beginning fresh, anew!"

"Er…" Alanessa expressed.

"Or in other words, I found a use for him." declared Naveru.

"But…." Layla began.

"Absolutely no buts!"

"Okaaay…?"

The entire atmosphere was still quite awkward, so the shorty scooped up a near-choking Qirise off the ground and made him shake hands with the others. Naveru briefly introduced her comrades. "Zerik, meet Qirise. Relvin, meet Qirise." She paused as she waited for the tallest person in the room to react. "Alanessa, yes, shake hands with him. Oh, and that is Bakk-Tiel."

"That's it? Just 'That is Bakk-Tiel'!?" the long-eared man angrily asked as he shook hands with Qirise aggressively. Qirise tried to keep an unseen smile followed by an awkward laugh.

"Well," said Layla, shyly backing down from shaking hands with the ex-enemy. She was surprised to see that Qirise instead bowed to her politely. _Huh… That's strange. Why does he care about my status in society considered his own status as a criminal?_ she thought.

After clearing her throat, she continued, "Small talk is wonderful, but I… should probably announce your reward for successfully completing the mission assigned."

The rewards for successfully completing the mission – possibly obtaining a copy of the lasagna recipe. Just the mere idea of it made Relvin's pupils expand. "Yes?"

Layla then chuckled. "…But first… I'm curious, how exactly _did_ you catch such a troublesome enemy, dear Alanessa?"

The tallest woman of the group smiled. "The two enemies I faced inside the basement were quite cocky, however what I found most amusing was that they explained a bit of their Nen abilities to me." She kicked at the vat with the roped-down snake in it. "It's honestly no wonder the two couldn't make it into the treasure room; they needed a key. And I suppose the reason why the other eighteen were freely wandering around the mansion was because they were searching for it." She then thoughtfully added, "Any hired guards were assumed to have it, which is why they were killed off."

"Well, where is the key anyway?" Zerik asked.

Alanessa giggled. "Oh, the key is no physical object. I'll tell you that much."

Puzzled, the others wondered how that was possible. They didn't trigger an official answer until Qirise asked, "P-Possibly a Nen key?"

"You've got it partially correct." Layla answered. "But actually, I _am_ the key."

" **E-EH?!** "

"W-Well... I-It's an ability of mine that is second nature for me," the Lady of the mansion continued shyly, "and I can pretty much open any door at will if I truly want to… Which is why my father never lets me lea-"

"Dear Layla!" a butler quickly butted in before she could finish her line, "We're being watched by your father right now!"

Yvonne added, "Y-Yes, my dear Lady. There are cameras all over this room, broadcasting this event to him as we speak right n-now!"

Layla shook her head, "No, it's alright. I had this conversation with my father before he left the country. He knew I'd eventually have to… well, explain my ability. Alanessa already knew of it prior to this reunion anyway. I had to explain it to her." She then carried on, "However, it wasn't supposed to be explained in a situation like this one, and I know that best…"

The servants began to awkwardly mumble things almost each other and fidget as if a giant boulder was about to be thrown at them.

The others listening to the conversation could only wonder why they were so gawky. Even Qirise thought so – he had to act professionally on his heists, after all.

"Listen, if you're really worried about getting fired by my father, I can help you all find jobs in other places. Trust me, having _THE_ Lady Ethelle as a referral will easily find you work _anywhere_."

The servants still seemed to awkwardly fidget. Naveru stepped up.

"Sheesh, how could you guys work around here while attacks were happening, yet have no backbones to support yourselves in a situation like this? C'mon!"

"Is the father that bad of a person?" Relvin asked.

Layla formed a half-smile and spoke, "He's quite harsh to any servants working here and carries a very strict policy. However, it's for my safety… I'm his only daughter, and my mother, the original Lady of the mansion, is…" Suddenly, her pupils shrank and she put a gloved hand over her mouth to conceal it. Looking over to one of the surveillance cameras pasted onto a wall right next to a fancy candelabra, her eyes began to twinkle. "Apologies. I've said too much."

The cameras throughout the room received some glares from some of the inhabitants in the room, of course with the exception of Layla and her servants. Layla removed the hand from her move and waved it to suggest leaving her issues alone.

"No matter," she spoke up, after wiping an unseen tear with her other hand, "Let's move on to the rewards."

The slightly tense atmosphere cooled off a bit as the Lady began to explain their hard-earned prizes.

"For successfully putting an end to the failed heists once and for all, and bringing back the leader's head, you receive the five million Velty each and each a shiny gem from my family's treasure vault."

Even though they had heard the rewards mentioned from her mouth before, they couldn't help but feel a little hesistant – the prizes were sort of… big.

"Are you sure, ma'am?"

Layla shook her head. "No, that's not all." She raised her head once more and smiled, and unlike the slightly overweening smiles they were all used to seeing since they met her, it seemed quite… genuine. "Since you Gourmet Hunters have done more than enough to amuse me today, I am going to produce a special copy of my great grandmother's recipe just for you."

"Yes!" Relvin exclaimed.

"At long last…" Alanessa added folding her hands together. Zerik and Bakk-Tiel seemed to sympathize with her.

Naveru and Qirise high-fived, with the latter rhetorically asking, "Wow! Isn't that great?!"

"I'll also cover the medical expenses here. I'm sure that some of you have received some sort of injury." Layla then said, primarily referring to Alanessa whose arm and back had been sliced at.

Naveru patted her long-bandaged thigh. "That's even better!"

Interestingly enough, the servants were wiping away tears with important-looking handkerchiefs, and Yvonne was the loudest of them all to cry. It really had been a long night in the mansion.

Lady Ethelle was enjoying the reactions she was receiving, and like her lackeys, produced tears of joy. She wiped away the tears and stood up straight with a bright, genuine smile again before asking, "Well, any questions?"

Naveru raised a hand. "Is the mansion going to be rebuilt with cooked pasta again?"

Layla giggled. "Yes; it is always rebuilt using pasta."

Alanessa then kicked at the vat once more, offering it to the Lady.

"Ah, yes," Layla started, "the leader and the remaining alive criminals must be sent away immediately."

The servants nodded and proceeded to prepare to wrestle what they expected was going to be a snake, but were astounded to instead see a speckled brown-and-white hare instead.

"You dumbasses!" the rabbit squeaked, having chewed at the ropes at its mouth, "I'm not and never was the leader of my group!"

"W-What?!" Layla barely uttered.

"Now, if you want to talk about the leader," the rabbit criminal continued, "that would've been Embodiment! However, this bitch here killed her!" The ranting animal angrily attempted to raise a paw at Alanessa, however it failed due to being tied down by the limbs.

The entire room went blank. The tallest woman in the room's face lost any positive expression. With everyone looking to her for an explanation, Alanessa pursed her lips, swallowed, and took a deep breath.

"Shit…" she gritted through her teeth.

"E-Embodi... what?" Naveru asked, beginning to shiver.

Layla's face became red, very red, from anger and slight embarrassment.

"I… I TAKE BACK WHAT I SAID!" she announced, slamming her fist onto the vat and shutting it tight. It made a noise that echoed throughout the inside of it, and Relvin fell to the floor in agony.

"N-No!" the pumpkin-skinned woman screeched.

"All this… for a recipe we still couldn't obtain..?" asked Zerik, more than annoyed.

Naveru began to furiously chew on her remaining oven mitten. Qirise, who attempted to calm her nerves, asked, "W-Well, er, looks like it isn't so great after all…?"

All the while, poor Alanessa felt like she had caused the most damage. The feeling of deep regret for the situation was boiling inside of her and she knew she couldn't hide it. With a formal bow, she declared her sorrow for the situation.

"I apologize, Your Highness. I did not know or come to the conclusion that the leader of the thieving group was not the one with the loose lips. That was entirely unprofessional on my part and I take full responsibility on the behalf of my coworkers and boss." she said, and behind the facade of near-neutrality and politeness, she was cringing.

 _This is the first remotely polite thing to come out of any of these rowdy Hunters_ , Layla thought, _And I have to admit, judging by that bow, it's as if she's used to this sort of thing happening to her…_ Observing the woman in the state of reduced height, the Lady noticed the bandage her servants had wrapped onto Alanessa's forehead much earlier. Much of it was still there, however it looked quite worn out.

 _Still, even with the kind gesture; it would be too easy to just hand the precious recipe over, would it not?_ In a state of slight conflict, Layla began to think of what her father would do in such a situation. _No, I need to stop going to him for help over my own problems. I wonder what mother would do in this sort of situation, though?_

 _Mother… She would empathize with their situation and say, '_ _Il ne choisit pas qui emprunte_ _'. And quite frankly, she's correct in that sense..!_

"No, dear Alanessa." Layla finally spoke once more. Her voiced boomed with confidence. "You fought well." She then began to make her way closer to the gray-haired woman, who was still bowing. "As much as I would have loved to send their leader behind bars, I must once again realize that beggars cannot be choosers. I asked for help, and I expected to receive more than I should have and all the while I didn't even partake in the fight."

"Lady Ethelle…" uttered Relvin.

Placing a hand to her jeweled chest, Layla nearly yelled, "If I wanted the leader's head and alive, I should've captured him myself, just like you pointed out earlier! I'm sure I'm capable of being just as strong, I know it, but all this time I've been too afraid of dealing with such issues using my own force." By now, she was standing in front of Alanessa. She placed a gloved hand on top of the woman's head, caressing the gray strands of hair that would fall to her shoulders.

"It's alright, really. You're all fine." Layla then spoke, "If you're still worried about the recipe…" She bit her lip. She was about to give away a copy of something regarded as precious as to her family as the great pyramid of Jysa is to Zijypt. "…Then I can still create a copy of it."

Seeing that Alanessa's head was elevating, Layla smiled. The taller woman was slightly amazed to see another genuine smile from the noblewoman.

"However," Layla added, "you have to promise me that…" _When I finally get my goals set straight and my own life together_ , "You'll show me around the city of Yorknew some day… And The Scirocco?" She was feeling bashful, and as a result she removed her hand from Alanessa's head.

Alanessa appeared to be more than just startled.

"H-H-How did you know that we're associated with that place?" mouthed Naveru.

Layla flashed a grin. "A certain someone wrote down the name and address of the place on the back of their Hunter License…"

Relvin scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "Oh, that… Hehe… That was when I first acquired the property and came up with a name for it. I needed to remember it somehow, so I wrote it down on the object I'm always carrying around."

" _Oh, you…_ " the entire room seemed to say.

"Anyway," Relvin began, "that's a promise we can keep, surely!"

Alanessa nodded. "The eatery is probably one of the most noticeable buildings in Yorknew. The catenary arches are visible from the outside, for one."

"Eh? It's a restaurant?" Layla's eyes nearly bulged out of her head.

"Indeed. Why else would we hunt for an ancient recipe?" Bakk-Tiel asked.

"To hand it to the Association for recognition?"

Alanessa chuckled. "We're all not _those_ kinds of Hunters."

Layla replied, "Well, then you can also make this lasagna for me!"

"Sure!"

Lady Ethelle called for her servants again and asked for them to fetch the old typewriter, for she was going to re-type the entire faded recipe and procedure down. They agreed, but this time with a new form of confidence within them, which they gained just by seeing the noblewoman pick up not only herself, but her attitude as well. With the belief that _maybe_ they could possibly all do the same, the four exited the main hall to find the tool. They were back with an ancient, dusty bronze typewriter with golden initials on it within the next five minutes.

"Here you go, my Lady." said Bristel, no longer fidgeting or awkward. He placed the typewriter down onto a small coffee table.

Layla nodded. "The recipe, dear?"

Alanessa opened up her left palm, and in seconds the faded sheet of paper materialized in it. She handed it to her.

"Alright… Thanks all of you." She blushed, slightly. _Not only have you amused me, but you all have also inspired me…_ Then, the typing commenced.

She was a pretty fast typer in comparison to anyone else in the room.

* * *

"We have it… We have it!"

It was Relvin shouting in joy as they were leaving the tattered mansion. The sky was still unlit; however a lighter tint of blue was beginning to take form, with the black clouds from before no longer in existence. The bright yellow hills seen even through darkness were still as if in sleep. The first windmill for the morning was now in operation. It was dawn.

"Yup. The hard work truly paid off." Naveru agreed.

Alanessa removed the bandage from her head. "Too bad we didn't stay for the after-party."

"Aw, the medical assistance was enough. Besides, it's very early now." reassured Relvin.

"Wasn't that assignment a little too easy, though? I mean, the actual enemies..." asked Zerik.

"W-well, the team wasn't exactly the greatest when it came to going up against more skilled Hunters," Qirise admitted, "or getting along at that…"

Bakk-Tiel was pretty preoccupied with holding a bag of five new gems. "It was nice of Miss Ethelle to give us these as well. Are you sure you all don't your shares of the gems, though?"

They all nodded.

"If it isn't in the form of wearable jewelry, it doesn't matter to me." Naveru stated, waving her hand.

"What mattered to me was getting a copy of the recipe!" Relvin announced as she tried to get her hands on it from Alanessa. "Ouch, Al!"

The taller woman shook her head. "Nope. You're not going to see it until we get back to Yorknew."

Once they arrived at the station, they were greeted by the sight of a sign indicating that the train station was in service for all hours of the day, and the current time on a large clock pinned to a large pole. It was four fifty-two in the morning.

"Ah, great; a different one this time." Bakk-Tiel pointed out as they lined up to enter the still train. "It seems less stuffy here, too."

"Well, back to Yorknew." spoke Naveru. "Man, I didn't even get to use my wolfsbane here at all!"

"Isn't that good, though?"

"No! Eh, maybe next time."

"Well it sure is a good thing that I have the afternoon shift. I can head home and sleep for the next few hours." Zerik yawned.

Before Alanessa stepped foot into the vehicle, her entire person was focused on something else. Her pupils expanded.

"Ranch… dressing?"

"Huh?" Zerik prompted, "What's wrong?"

"There's… ranch dressing." Alanessa began to shiver. "That's all… it is here that is… remotely different…"

"You're looking at the recipe?!" asked an astonished strawberry-haired young lady.

"Come to think of it, ranch dressing is quite rare is this country." Bakk-Tiel responded thoughtfully. "Expensive, too."

Zerik seethed. "T-That's it…?"

Alanessa whistled and folded the copy of the lasagna recipe in half. She then placed it in her pocket before Relvin could catch her and possibly lecture her on the subject.

"Hey! You can't enter the train wearing that mask!" yelled Relvin, who was referring to a certain ex-enemy. "What do you look like, anyway?"

Naveru's senses increased by about two-hundred percent. "YES! Relvin is absolutely right. What _do_ you look like?!"

" _Eeek_!" Now poor Qirise was being chased around the train station by two ladies being creepy… even if they were correct about the proper attire when entering public transportation.

"He sounds cute! He must be cute, too, right?!" Naveru shouted.

Alanessa entered the train as if she had seen nothing. Zerik decided to ask once more, except worded slightly differently,

"And how exactly did this mission benefit the eatery?"

* * *

 **[Note(s): Fans, a basilisk, plants, a Nensabre, and a half-ghost. Oh my! x3**

 **Layla; another Neon Nostrade? Oh dear, I hope not... What is it with these rich girls and their long-disappeared mothers?!**

 **I hope I'm getting the hang of this, and I certainly hope I don't regret the Nen abilities I chose for each one of them..** **This was just a warm up for me, so I picked pretty simple enemies. (Apologies!) I'll do my best to be modest with the Nen** **abilities. With that "said," there are a lot of ideas I want to put to use with this whole 'Nen' concept, which I hope** **I'll get around to utilize. Also, there will probably be some more limiting set on existing and later abilities just like** **with Alanessa's to avoid things becoming overpowered, along with vows as well. (I had a lot of fun explaining Alanessa's** **abilities.)**

 **Another thing would be distinguishing what category they each fall into. If I can figure out how to comprehend the** **categories into simpler terms, I'll try my best to confirm them later on. Some should be pretty obvious, though. (A few** **were clearly stated throughout the whole chapter!)**

 **Lastly, I'd absolutely love to create more chapters just like this one! Reminds me of the good old Fairy Tail (missions** **and such). ^^**

 **Keywords:**

 **Jysa = Giza; the Great Pyramid of Giza**

 **Zijypt = Egypt**

 **" Il ne choisit pas qui emprunte" = "He who borrows does not choose", or simply; "Beggers can't be choosers".**

 **...And before you ask, yes, the mother of Layla would be considered whatever "French" is in the Hunter x Hunter universe** **(but Layla is only a half-breed). ^^**

 **I apologize if there's any confusion, and I'll do my best to edit and fix it up if pointed out.**

 **Once again, thanks for the follows, and thanks for the reviews, bergamoutorange! I honestly wasn't expecting to receive** **anything with an unorthodox story like this, haha.**

 **Notes are bound to change (or more like have extra information added to them). Some things in the chapter could possibly change too, since it's so long.. Also, chapter 7 is in the works! Not sure when it'll be out, though.]**


	7. A Meeting, a Test, and the Dishes

**[Here's the seventh chapter. Just as the fourth one did, this one takes place post-Thirteenth Chairman Election arc. It is also "third person limited" at some parts, and I believe you'll see why if you read on.**

 **EDIT: Stupid me! Apparently I forgot to add horizontal lines in between scenes. I apologize to anyone who read this prior to the edit.**

 **Enjoy!]**

* * *

 _Slash_

In a tranquil, bushy forest containing over five thousand trees was a flock of free-frolicking deer; the Lalennis deer of the Lalenne forest. The enormous number of trees acted as a guardian and protected said deer, allowing them to quickly escape the wrath of any hostile visitors, who would find themselves lost among the maze of foliage either way.

However, the deer did not completely rely on the forest. Being a one-of-a-kind species selectively bred by Beast Hunters, they also happened to carry traits that could be used to brutally harm; cloven hooves and antlers stronger than the finest steel, and an ear-piercing snort used to warn anyone about an already-claimed territory.

Some were convinced that the deer had Nen capabilities. The refined hooves and antlers of the males especially seemed to fall under Enhancement. After all, any living form contained an aura. But others – specifically professionals – disregarded the claim, concluding that animals were just not intelligible enough to utilize Nen.

Nonetheless, on one particular day, the forest shrouded in five thousand trees was not safe. It was under attack.

 _Slice_

A young lady skilled with knives was causing havoc throughout the forested area. Slicing through an angry buck with ease, one could simply tell that she was more than meets the eye. It was nobody else but Menchi, the Single-Star Gourmet Hunter.

"Hmph!" a nearby male deer snorted.

Fearless enough to not make an escape, the male was prepared to protect its portion of the woods with impaling antlers. It was rutting season and bucks were especially wild. The deer charged after the woman with appreciable speed. However, it didn't receive any appreciation for its effort at all from Menchi.

She seemed to disappear from her place. In mere seconds, the buck was skinned, sliced, diced, and deboned. The venison meat was still in midair when she reappeared on the earthly ground again.

"'Hmph!' to you too." Menchi retorted.

She then withdrew her blades. With a sigh, she realized that she was finished for the day; there was more than enough meat to make an entire stack of venison cutlets with. But hunting for lunch wasn't truly what she was there for, and she had to remind herself before it got the best of her.

 _This is only stress relief._ she thought to herself. _I admit, it helped calm my nerves and remove some stress. It's just too bad that I won't be saying the same thing in a few hours…_

Menchi faced the sky above the thick trees, shielding her eyes from the sun.

 _After all, those amateurs never satisfy me every year._

"Buhara," she spoke aloud, "capture all of the meat we can use."

Her partner in crime, Buhara, was in fact there the entire time. He had been amusing himself with poking fun at the various personalities of the bucks in any territories they intruded. Even during the rut, the vicious males did not hold a candle to his strength.

"What about the remains?" he asked. The skin and bones were surprisingly revealed to be arranged in a neat pile on the ground.

Menchi waved her arm. "Just leave them." She then began to walk off, ready to leave the forest. "Maybe it'll scare the hell out of the others."

"Roger." Buhara responded and began to follow her.

* * *

Inside of a large and elaborate building, seated in a posh arm chair was Menchi. She was donning ripped denim shorts and gladiator shoes. Being over with the fishnet top usually layered over her brassiere for the day, she decided to wear a short denim button-up jacket (which was only fastened in the dead center) instead. As usual, her head was covered in multiple standing turquoise ponytails. Her legs were folded neatly, and finally, her head was leaning against one of her palms in pure boredom.

 _Nobody's here yet._

She was renting a room inside of the Hunter Association's building (well, one of them) for a few hours, where a meeting would take place. The meeting would be nothing more than having a bunch of specialized business and organization-owning Gourmet Hunters in Yorknew serve her and Buhara their fine dishes. If Menchi found a dish or two to be worthy, she would give her word of recommendation to the higher-ups in the Association. Such would result in recognition and free advertising for the lucky Gourmet Hunter or Hunters who managed to receive it, and it especially benefitted those who owned restaurants.

However, Menchi was difficult to please. There were only very few chefs in the world that could satisfy her exquisite taste in foods, and no Gourmet Hunter – specifically ones from massive cities like Yorknew – could ever seem to accomplish just that often enough. Metropolitan areas were fickle, following a food trend for a short period of time and then ditching them for another. The turquoise-haired lass detested exactly that.

Although she hadn't been a Single-Star Gourmet Hunter for too long, she could honestly admit that there were only a few years where someone would actually pass the test. There were even less years with multiple people receiving her recommendation. Her tastes had been growing more and more specific by the day than they had been when she proctored for the two-hundred and eighty-seventh Hunter Exam. Some blamed her newly acquired skill for just that on the twelfth Chairman's death. After all, even though she didn't show it publicly, the old man managed to inspire Menchi in some ways.

Buhara, on the other hand… He enjoyed nearly every dish, every year. Menchi sort of detested his lack of 'sensitive taste', as she regularly called it. But at the same time, she wished her standards could have been simpler just as his were…. _sometimes_.

Menchi squeezed the cheek her palm was lying against. _Why me?_ she wondered, _There should be a lot more Gourmet Hunters with Star statuses to do this in place of me. I don't like having to travel across the country every time just for this crap…_ With a mental sigh, she decided to take a cerebral note of the room as well.

It was a fairly decent sized room with brown shag carpet and beige-colored walls. Potted plants sat in various areas for decorations, and a small table blanketed with refreshments as well as upside-down wine cups were in the background. A larger table with enough seats for sixteen people sat in the middle of the room. One seat, the most luxurious one, of course, was reserved for her. Another would be reserved for Buhara, who was apparently making a snack out of the venison meat from long before. As Menchi's thoughts had stated, the room was free of anyone else other than her.

 _Ick_ , she contemplated once more as she peered at a hanging clock on the wall, _Only twenty minutes left until the meeting starts. What the hell are they all doing?_

She sighed, aloud that time, then unfolded her legs and switched their positions. Buhara happened to join the room when she completed the action.

"Lalennis venison is always good." he said with a smile.

Menchi laughed. Elevating her head a little, she asked him, "Say, did you happen to see anyone come up to this floor?"

"Oh, actually…"

"-Hello. Sorry for the wait. Am I late?"

A brunette lady with cateye prescription glasses entered the room. She was dressed in the attire of a business woman, complete with a tan suitcase.

Menchi answered, "No, no. You're fine. It's nice to see that at least someone isn't evading the message." Her bored expression swapped with a slight smile. Now, things were at least a little less dull.

"Oh, no. Never. I don't even try to avoid the court. I always serve for Jury Duty if asked, and I'll continue to do the same here as well." the woman responded back with a blush. She then pushed her glasses up and made herself comfortable in one of the empty seats. Menchi saw her as 'by the book' kind of person.

"Menchi-san," she continued, "you remember me from last year, correct?"

"Liriane Besheldt."

The woman grinned.

"Let's hope that at least one of us manages to satiate your exquisite taste in dishes today."

* * *

Twenty minutes eventually passed, and low and behold; the seats were filled. Fifteen out of sixteen of them, at least. Menchi herself couldn't even believe most of them stupidly decided to show up during the last five minutes, with some even using horrible excuses for their reasons of doing so.

"Xurt isn't here today…"

Menchi was reviewing a checklist with the names of different individuals on it.

"Screw it. He's never here anyway." She then ripped the sheet of paper in half and tossed it away. Folding her hands against the table, she continued to speak. "So everyone except him has gathered here today. Good enough. I'm not going through the entire attendance process this time, though." The turquoise-haired woman smirked. "So let's get to business. You all brought something, right?"

"Menchi, your elbows are on the table." a man with freakishly long, spiky blonde hair pointed out.

"Table manners don't apply here, Von. For cheese's sake, we're all lawless Hunters." Menchi refuted. She then nudged Buhara for assistance. He rubbed his stomach in response.

"I say we just get to the food part already."

"You heard him. Let's get this show on the road, people!" a woman with a wild country accent exclaimed.

Menchi took note of the person who owned the voice; a lady around her age with hazel eyes and a bob-cut hairstyle in purple, complete with pink streaks. Best of all, just like the Single-Star Gourmet Hunter, much of her midriff was exposed. Menchi admired her courage.

"Lynnette, since you seem eager; why don't you go first?"

"Good choice." The woman named Lynnette answered then announced in a proud voice. "I'm Lynette Campbell and I'm here to earn this recommendation for my soup kitchen!" There was applause from two people, and one of them was Buhara. Menchi just shook her head.

"How can a clam cram in a clean cram can?" Lynette asked in her own accent. However, rather than being an actual question, it activated her Hatsu. In one big swoop, she smacked down a large, covered pot oozing out steam.

 _This is her ability, Table Time Tongue Twisters_ , Menchi contemplated as she made a new mental note of it.

The turquoise-ponytailed dame lifted the lid off of the pot. Slightly surprised that she didn't burn her hand doing so, she soon realized that her nose was picking up a familiar smell. In fact, everyone in the room's noses started to appreciate a mysterious savory smell.

"Creamy clam chowder?" the Single-Star Hunter asked.

"Bigger brazen bowls make better baths for boiling broth!" Lynette continued, and a few decorated bowls slid right onto the table. "Utilizing utensils yields ubiquitous uniqueness!" Spoons followed.

Lynette handed the spoons to Menchi and Buhara; then placed a ladle in the actual pot. "Enjoy, loves."

The two were surprised to see the pot (and the lid and ladle) disappear after they both took their servings.

 _Ugh, I'm glad I didn't eat anything beforehand…_ Menchi thought.

* * *

Among the table of fifteen people was a certain pumpkin-faced sapien, who had her long hair tied up and was wearing an outfit consisted of a high-waisted pencil skirt with suspenders and a red long-sleeved blouse underneath. Crowning her blouse was a striped black and white tie. In her lap carried a navy blue suitcase.

 _I look like a nerd…_ contemplated Relvin as her legs dangled under the table.

 _Well, at least I didn't wear stockings._

When she looked up from the hands seated atop the suitcase on her lap, she could see and hear Menchi criticizing Lynette's clam chowder.

"The broth is warm - which is only by grace of your ability, by the way – however the juice from the clams is still present! The choice of the unique Saldender-land vegetables you used is a nice addition, though. Too bad you went overboard on the dillweed and butter."

"Eh?!" Lynette shrieked, "I was so sure that I drained the clams!"

Buhara rubbed his stomach. "Ah… That was great. It's fine by me!"

"Thank you, Buhara." Lynette smiled. "Also, there's that slight aftertaste of butter because my five year old likes it that way… I guess I was thinking too much of his own tastes rather than yours." She hit herself in the head. No shame.

"All in all; if you had added just a bit of red wine into the mixture, this would be a lot more tolerable." Menchi finished off before handing her the half-empty bowl back.

"T-Thank you so much, Menchi." Lynette awkwardly laughed. Her facial expression was swapped with a more serious one once she eyed the bowl being passed her way. "But the only problem is that I can't take away the bowl unless the contents inside of it are at least at the very bottom, if not all over the walls."

Menchi sighed before looking to her partner, who was eager to finish it off. She gave it to him.

"You can't take the bowls away until the insides are almost gone, huh? You must be a tough cookie with your own kid, then."

Lynette smiled. "After all, I grew up in a house where you were to eat everything on your plate before getting to the cake!"

"Yeah, and let's just force that onto the newer generation, huh?" retorted Menchi so quietly, and she shook her head. "Next up! Urgh, someone who owns a salad buffet… Sy, that means you."

Relvin felt a chill move up her spine after hearing the Single-Star Hunter's comments on the clam chowder. _Harsh as always… and it's cold in this building._ She blinked twice. _How is it that some of these people can go without wearing much despite the sudden drop in temperature here?_ She then twiddled the thumbs on her lap. _Well, I hope she at least likes the appearance of the cake I made…_

* * *

A man with sunglasses and wild red hair, Sy, opened up a suitcase beside his seat. After much shuffling (apparently his suitcase was full of ridiculously long zippered jackets, like the one he was donning), he presented a small black gift box. He grunted.

Menchi reluctantly accepted the gift box. In her mind, she began debating on whether she really wanted to open it up or not. …But did she really have a choice? _No, I don't_ , she thought. The Single-Star Hunter pressed herself to open up the box. To her surprise, it contained a purple and white turnip. Her face contorted.

"Sy… How many times have I told you that I hate turnips?" she gritted through her teeth.

Sy simply answered, "I stopped bothered making anything nice for you because I hate you. Just thought you'd like to know."

"Excuse me?"

"I hope you choke on it."

Menchi was enraged. Sure, she had met rude Hunters as well as those who doubted her skill due to her young age; however, it was mockery like Sy's that was totally uncalled for. Buhara, her sidekick, was ready to smack the man, but before any action could take place, Sy's chair fell over with a loud thud.

"Senseless!" a voice erupted from where his chair originally stood.

Menchi opened her tightly-shut eyes after hearing the voice. _Huh?_ It sounded as if it belonged to a girl no older than ten. Taking a peek at where Sy's seat would have been (had it been sitting upright), there, on the floor, was a very small girl.

"Sounds like you need to be taught how to speak to a woman of high status." the girl stated. She smacked Sy with something, and Menchi noticed it was a parasol that the girl happened to be holding.

 _What the hell? W-When did she enter this room?_

"Sis!" Sy barely uttered before another smack followed. "Why are you-! ACK!"

"I thought mom taught you better. You're a disgrace!" The little girl clutched a strand of his hair and began to drag him out of the room. She stopped halfway through the exit once realizing the situation. Dropping Sy's head, the girl bowed.

"Excuse us, ma'am." she spoke in a sweet tone, "I'm Siobhán, an Information Hunter who just recently left my office located in this building to check on him. I apologize for my imbecilic older brother's antics." Noticing bland expressions from many inhabitants of the room, she spoke on. "In exchange, I'll help out anyone in the room if in need of any information, anytime." She tossed her business cards everyone's way. Some gladly accepted the cards, while others… found a way to destroy them. Siobhán didn't care to look back and just raised her parasol again.

"Carry on with your meeting."

"When did you arrive?" The Single-Star Hunter asked, but was met with silence. The petite girl had left the room already. She couldn't even see Sy's feet dragging across the shag carpet anymore. Menchi couldn't even comprehend what exactly transpired before her eyes.

As the scantily-clad woman shifted her view from the doorway to the table again, she was met with rather… intriguing facial expressions from the amateurs before her.

"So…" Menchi cleared her throat. "What… exactly just happened?"

"…"

She received no response from any spectators.

"What happens to the turnip?" Buhara asked.

"…Just eat it."

* * *

Menchi felt like she was calling in a new dish every time she blinked. She was previously given a plate of blue gelatin that would not stop jiggling. It came from Stephania; a pink-haired, eye-patch wearing young lady in a frilly dress. Such attire was called Gothic Lolita, Menchi remembered. As far as gelatin-tasting went, the blue glob received a _slight_ compliment. It was made from the expensive gelatin of the Borkalvis pigs that lived in the far north. The Professional Gourmet Hunter was mainly disgusted by the fact that the blob would not stop wobbling, though. On the other hand, Buhara personally wanted to eat all of it.

Following Stephania was another woman dressed in gothic attire. Rather than the pink and white ribbon frilliness, though, she was dressed in all black. Sophitia was her name, and apparently she was the cousin of the gelatin-blob-monster's creator. She presented a Devil's food cake (which received a shriek from a good church-going lady in the room) made of atypical albino cocoa beans of another continent. Menchi deemed it as 'too fudgey'.

"See, Sophitia? I told you that the Devil's food cake shouldn't be our bakery's recognized dish!"

"It's not the cake that's the problem – every customer I serve loves it. It's just her."

Stephania and Sophitia were arguing. Menchi shook her head as a response to the issue.

"Arguing isn't going to save your case here. Your bakery isn't receiving a thumbs up from me." She then yelled, "NEXT UP!"

* * *

Succeeding the two was the person who informed Menchi about her elbows being on the table. His name was Von and he was there to represent some sort of 'ethnic restaurant', but the scantily clad sampler wasn't too fond of hearing it. (He did educate her on her manners, after all) He presented a plate of tarantula legs – fried and salted. Apparently they were of the Eitho tarantulas – a rare (and endangered) species of arachnids that dwelled in rainforests, as Von explained beforehand.

The turquoise-haired woman could only think, _What the f-_

"You… expect me to eat this?" Menchi was asking seriously.

"It's a popular dish in my home country." Von replied.

"…Disgusting!" Menchi burst out, "Look, you even left the arachnids' legs hairy. Ick!"

"It's a delicacy."

"It's terrible."

Menchi was highly against testing it; she hated critters with a passion. Eating them would be a whole different level of madness for her. As much as she wanted to turn it down, she observed Buhara shrugging, and taking his own share. After some moments, her partner's facial expression seemed to become the usual lazy smile once tasting it. Typically, that meant it was acceptable… _FOR HIM!_

But then Menchi reminded herself that she didn't have a choice. Teaching the amateurs what was right and wrong with their dishes was part of her job.

Taking a small leg – a very, very small leg – she slowly placed it in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed _very slowly_.

 _This is…_

She took another leg, this time a little larger. The same process followed. However, she actually took the time to savor it. To the picky eater's surprise, if she disregarded the feeling of the hairy legs squirming around inside her mouth, it was… quite edible.

 _This_ _ **IS**_ _a delicacy…_ she thought to herself.

"Wow, Von…" Menchi started in a small, astonished tone, "This… This is actually quite exceptional."

"See-" Von began, but he was cut off.

"However, it isn't the least bit aesthetically pleasing, so it doesn't receive my recommendation." Menchi crossed her arms. In a matter of a few seconds, her expression of pure disbelief for the taste of the tarantula legs was quickly replaced with the lecturing one. "Remember; good food is pleasing to the eyes, too."

It definitely wasn't every chef's philosophy, but Menchi went by that rule with an iron fist.

 _I can't believe I ate tarantula legs and referred to them as good enough. Heh._ she thought to herself.

* * *

Menchi had called on the next person, and to her surprise it was Yorknew's supposed infamous homeless wandering drunk, Kiyoshi Konishi. She only remembered the name due to an article she stumbled across on the Hunters-Only website. He sold alcoholic beverages on the streets and could reduce the fermentation process of beer from two weeks to two days, putting many local breweries to shame! As much as the ponytailed woman disliked being around functional drunks (though that was slightly out of jealousy), she was interested in what he would offer to her.

 _Wait… that guy had an actual business all this time?_ Menchi pondered as she watched him open up a cello case, _But this is my first time seeing him here in one of these meetings…_

 _Better yet, why doesn't he just rent space somewhere with the money from his Hunter License? That would help with his homeless problem._

Menchi was still deep into her thoughts when the drunkard passed over a bundt beer cake wrapped in an oily brown napkin.

"Here." the sleepy drunkard directed.

"Oh!" yelped Menchi. The cake was small, but it wasn't as if it was impossible to share with Buhara. She pulled apart a small piece and sincerely contemplated, _I hope this guy can at least make cakes as good as the beer they praise him for._

She took a bite, chewed, and took a moment to savor. It was a plain slice of cake – definitely not moist like a good pound cake, but at the same time it wasn't entirely dry. The consistency of the bundt cake was amazing. The lack of anything special other than the beer made it unique. In fact, the 'zing!' the beer gave off was an amazing touch – while not being overwhelming at the same time.

Menchi swallowed, and felt like she just tasted the late night special at a high-end restaurant. When she looked to Buhara, she could tell by the look on his face that he agreed; his face donned an astonished expression rather than the usual lazy smile.

"…Delicious." uttered the picky eater.

The entire room seemed to be in shock.

"You're pleased by that bland-looking piece of bread?!" Stephania angrily asked.

"I admit I wasn't expecting too much from something that came in an oily napkin," Menchi continued, "but the consistency is perfect, the flavor is not too weak or too strong. The aftertaste isn't horrible." But then there was the appearance she had to judge on. It _did_ arrive to her in a greasy napkin, but it wasn't as if the cake itself wasn't attractive. As far as she remembered (she didn't, really), it looked like a genuine bundt cake. No frills, frosting, sprinkles, or stunts. It was good enough for what it was; a plain beer cake.

"This," Menchi continued, standing up from her seat and placing both hands on the table, "this receives my recommendation!"

Buhara agreed, albeit it was his typical reaction. "Ah... That was good. Is there any more?"

The Single-Star Hunter was slightly curious to know this too. She eyed Kiyoshi, who was suspiciously slumped down in his chair.

"Um, Menchi-san…" It was Liriane speaking. "Kiyoshi-san has fallen asleep."

"…"

"…"

"WHY WOULD YOU BOTHER ATTENDING IF YOU'RE THAT WASTED?!" the professional Gourmet Hunter shouted to what seemed like the entire world.

* * *

Next up was a nun carrying the three-part name Margarete Angélique Serenity – which she of course clarified beforehand – who was representing a food charity organization she regularly worked with. Similarly to Lynette's ability, Table Time Tongue Twisters, she was able to produce a warm dish of curry beef. Rather than having to repeat set tongue twisters, though, the sister chanted prayers. Menchi grew bored listening to the older lady's gospel. However the curry was still warm, so she couldn't bring herself to yell at her.

When the tasting phase ceased, Buhara gave it his thumbs up. Menchi, on the other hand… She was conflicted, just like the dish she had just experienced. Curry beef was not a simple dish to make. More than one country incorporated curry into their meals, and none were exactly alike. The underdressed Single-Star Hunter could definitely tell that Margarete had tried to do that; take the different methods and styles of curry and mix them all into one dish.

 _The beef itself wasn't bad, it's tender._ Menchi contemplated, _It's just the simple fact that she tried to do more than she could handle._ She then sighed aloud.

"Sorry, but church favorite or not – you bit off more than you could possibly ever chew. You can't just mix more than five styles together and expect the tastes of each to not clash when combined."

Such resulted in the nun begging for forgiveness from her God.

* * *

Several more people later, Menchi was growing insanely sick of tasting low-class food. She could only wonder why city people couldn't even get simple meals right. Cold pineapple pizza with some kind of unique squash added on top of it? Despicable. Hard raisin cookies made with a foreign tropical grape? Abhorrent. A lukewarm bacon wrapped sandwich topped with cheese from a supposedly special cow? Nauseating. It was already bad enough that a fourteen year old Gourmet Hunter (who probably thought they were being funny) gave her a 'specialty garden salad' that literally exploded in her face.

The picky lass was really started to envy her partner, Buhara. Not only was he not even close to being full, but he could somehow tolerate all of it.

"N…" Menchi could barely utter the word as her painted nails clawed against the tablecloth. "…Next."

"Oh, goodie!" a voice suddenly erupted. It belonged to nobody else but Relvin.

* * *

 _Alright, try to leave a good impression on The Scirocco_ , Relvin thought to herself as she noticed the annoyed expression of her senior. With a smile, she gently placed her suitcase on the table and opened it up. Inside was a mint-colored box with a rather complex method for opening it. Relvin was glad she managed to memorize the pattern, and with ease she opened up the box to reveal a cheesecake.

The cake was eight inches, circular, and four inches high. The crust consisted of crushed golden-brown graham crackers with the center of the pastry being slightly beige due to it being baked there for a little longer. From the center up, the cake was a tint of tan. The top of the cheesecake contained whip cream, small berries, and a few truffles and malt balls. Other than the little decorations blanketing the surface of the cake, there appeared to be no frills.

"Oh, wait…" Relvin said as she raised a hand indicating that something was missing. She carefully picked out an oddly shaped yellow knife of plastic from her suitcase and handed it to the Single-Star Gourmet Hunter, handle first. Spoons were passed along as well.

"There you go. Please enjoy."

She could tell that Menchi was probably peeved at how bland the cake looked just by the way she slowly sliced a portion for herself. On the other hand, Buhara… Well, of course he was most likely going to enjoy it.

Menchi picked off a blueberry and examined it for what seemed to be three minutes before she actually ate it. In fact, by the time she used the red plastic spoon she was given to shave a bit of the actual cake off, Buhara was finished with his own slice.

She then ate the spoonful, chewed, and swallowed. She took many others before she finally made a judgment.

"Wow, it's tan." the professional admitted.

"…What?" Relvin barely emitted.

"Well, I mean… I've never seen a tan Yorknew-style cheesecake before." Menchi pointed out. "It's sort of... Different, I guess."

 _Aww… It would've been darker if I had used only coconut sugar_ , thought Relvin. "It's because I used half palm and half coconut sugar. I didn't think it'd be that noticeable…"

Menchi shook her head. "No, no. The appearance is fine – cute even, but…

 **Isn't this just a plain old cheesecake?** "

"…"

"…"

"Why, yes. Yes, it is." answered Relvin.

"Then how is this worthy of my recommendation?" Menchi stabbed the remains of her slice with the spoon.

"…"

A smile was plastered onto the face of Relvin, and it continued to grow wider by the second.

* * *

Last but not least was Liriane Besheldt. She was representing her family-owned café. The genuine smile that Menchi had seen before seemed as if it had never faded.

Fixing her cat-eye glasses with one hand, Liriane dug into a pocket and extracted a small sheet of paper.

"May I borrow a pen?" the polite woman asked.

"Hm? Oh, sure." answered Menchi, and she was given a retractable pen.

"Thank you, Menchi-san."

With the click of the pen, the brunette began to glide it across the page at a tremendous speed. She wrote down words – a procedure for something, numbers, and symbols. Somehow she even managed to draw a neat picture on the small sheet. Liriane then clicked the pen a second time before stabbing the piece of paper with it. Now, there was a small hole and the pen was stuck – right in the picture she had drawn.

" _Bento Box: Beef Edition._ " Liriane whispered. The pen and paper began to transform, and when it finished, it became a large and green and brown oriental lunch box. The glasses wearing lady passed it over to Menchi and Buhara with a smile.

Buhara couldn't wait to devour whatever was in the box, but Menchi stopped him to check the contents. The lunch box – the bento – was filled with raw cabbage, sticky white rice, and four medium-sized breaded meats the picky Single-Star Hunter assumed to be beef. The sides of the box had beautifully patterned wooden chopsticks.

Menchi was impressed by the appearance of the meal – slightly, but when she realized what the goody-goody woman created, her face brightened.

"Menchi katsu…!" she exclaimed, though almost inaudibly.

Liriane nodded. "I hope you like it."

Menchi immediately took a pair of chopsticks before Buhara could claim his own. It had been long – far too long – since she had last seen the snack like the one sitting in a pretty bento box right before her. It was one of her favorite snacks if done right, and the exact meal she was named after.

She glanced at the Besheldt lady almost giving a look that suggested a question of whether the woman really wanted her to eat it or not. Speechless, the thought of Liriane knowing that it was her favorite snack also aroused her curiosity. Once the business suit-clad woman grinned back at her, though, she felt embarrassed and separated the chopsticks from each other.

"Thank you for the meal." said Menchi, with a slight bow. It was the first time she had actually given thanks to somebody's dish that day.

Buhara had already begun to dig in, for a third of the rice was missing. He was happily munching on one of the breaded meat patties. His partner, not wanting to miss out on the chance of tasting something that could actually be scrumptious, started to chow down as well – in a more lady-like fashion.

"Menchi katsu," Liriane spoke, "made with the beef of the Wagyu cattle. Sides include raw cabbage and the white rice of the mysteriously toxic Kotsunuri swamps." She placed a hand onto her chest where her heart was.

"Um… Why do you have to announce it?" asked somebody other than Menchi or Buhara. It happened to be the goth loli dressed in pink and white, the pastry chef who created the ever-jiggling gelatin, Stephania.

Liriane blushed as if she hadn't realized that she spoke in front of an audience. "Oh, er… It's a vow I placed on myself." She then smiled again.

"A vow for the ability you just demonstrated, huh? Seems useful…" praised Lynette.

Liriane was still blushing of embarrassment. "A-ah, thank you."

The cat-eye glasses wearing lady quickly shifted her attention back to the picky Single-Star Hunter and her partner. She was slightly curious of what their opinions were on the dish and was tempted to ask, but at the same time she didn't want to rush them. Menchi was very moody when it came to food, after all.

"Oh! That's right! I'm so sorry; I forgot to add tonkatsu sosu to the meat!" Liriane almost yelled, realizing that something was amiss with the snack. "That and I eradicated one of your pens… I deeply apologize, Menchi-san and Buhara-san!"

"That was delicious."

"H-Huh?"

It was Buhara, who immediately sat back in his seat after devouring the last bit of what was in the bento box. To everyone at the table's surprise, Menchi was the one who finished eating first. A fourteen year old tried to hush a snarky comment.

" _Gosh_ , look who's the real pig."

"Besheldt," Menchi began, "this is moderately remarkable… But even with your ability, _Recipe to Reality_ , you still somehow managed to 'fry' the breaded meat a little longer than necessary."

Liriane pushed her glasses up. "So I did. I apologize. I had a feeling I should have written down a lower temperature for the heat…"

"That and the rice was not really necessary." Menchi continued, "I know you wanted to put a rare ingredient to use, but this was not the kind of dish for it; it's just a snack."

Liriane nodded as she listened to her senior's lecture, even making sure to take notes of it. When Menchi was finished half-berating, half-enlightening the young lady, she crossed her arms.

"All in all, had the deep-friend cutlets been topped with tonkatsu sosu, this may or may not have been more tolerable."

The suit-clad woman grinned. "Thank you, Menchi-san."

"…"

Silence befell the table of fifteen. Liriane had been the last person to deliver a sample. Everyone at the table had a feeling they knew what the results of their hard work for the day was going to be, even the most confident of those who introduced a unique dish. They all received Buhara's recommendation (which sadly didn't exist), but Menchi…

"Menchi sweetie," Margaret, the nun from much longer ago, broke the silence, "there's breadcrumbs on your cheeks." She released a small chuckle.

"W-What?!"

With one speedy action, the turquoise-haired dame wiped the crumbs from her face with the elaborate tablecloth, much to everyone at the table's amusement.

"Something tells me you enjoyed that more than you're letting off." teased Sophitia.

Menchi turned her gaze away from the table. "Well, it's not like it was all that bad or anything…" Before her juniors could make fun of her anymore, she spoke more clearly, "A-Anyway, as for the results of this meeting – of course excluding Buhara's feelings on the matter, and for the good of the Association…

" **YOU ALL FAIL!** "

Nobody was shocked. _Nobody_. Really, this was the usual result. Most of the members of the table were quite used to it, even though most of them were confident in their abilities. They hid their slight anger and disappointment toward the situation and blamed it on the picky Single-Star Hunter instead. If one knew Menchi well enough, they could tell that most city-trending foods didn't appeal to her tastes anyway.

"Man, you amateur Hunters are still no good." Menchi addressed with honesty.

"We're all pro Hunters, Menchi."

"Von, I sincerely hope that your smartassery gets you into a lot of trouble."

* * *

"Ugh, how is it that I managed to miss the bus…?" Relvin hit herself on the head as she reflected on her experience traveling prior to the meeting. As her feet dragged her toward a gas station, she made a silly smile. "They're probably all going to yell at me for not winning Menchi's recommendation…" She furrowed an eyebrow. "Which is actually quite strange, as I'm their boss…"

 _Though I suppose that just shows how close we all are._

"Well, she said the cake was cute. That's a first step, right?" She squealed with the thought in mind. Had anyone been walking by, they would probably think the suitcase-swinging young lady was socially awkward or something.

…And then a sudden thought attacked her brain.

"Oh no! I hope that doesn't mean they've caused trouble while I was away; it's still a business day, after all." Relvin quickened her pace as the thought of such horror flooded through her mind. "Alanessa throwing out bread bound to go old in a day just as her OCD tells her to, three more stoves set to fire by Zerik, complaints about chips of silver found in multiple people's soups thanks to Bakk-Tiel," she continued to address her sorrows aloud, "Naveru consuming most of the pumpkin caffè lattes, and Qirise…" She stopped to think for a second, "Oh, hey… He's the most manageable there despite his ex-criminal status… and who knew that he was actually still a kid?"

The thought of at least one person not tearing down the building was enough to relieve her.

"Then again, he is sort of under Naveru's influence…. Oh, let's not worry about that right now!"

Relvin cut her little one-sided conversation short, as she observed some attention she happened to attract. It wasn't possible to explain her sudden burst of emotions to the small crowd. She waved at the people pumping gas at the station as a half-apology then started to move along.

"I should have ridden my bike here after all…"

* * *

"Welcome back, kumquat."

Alanessa was happily poking her boss' forehead.

"Wh-What… It's just you and Zerik right now? …Phew."

Relvin was back from Yorknew's Hunter Association building. She was glad, too. Traffic was starting to pick up and the pedestrian roads were growing busier. Being inside of The Scirocco again was quite refreshing.

"What, you forgot about our schedules?" the taller woman chuckled. "Or did you think I would throw out all of the day-old breads by now?"

Relvin deadpanned. "Er… No?"

"Liar."

"Okay, I admit I _might_ have. Say, were any stoves set to fire while I was gone?"

"No, but Zerik was complaining about an entire sink full of dishes." Alanessa answered honestly, "I'm too busy juggling with the bakery and the vegetarian and vegan delight to take care of it, though."

"You could just close one of them until someone else shows up." suggested Relvin.

"I could…" Alanessa seemed to drift off to somewhere else in her mind for a second. Meanwhile, the other woman took notice of a few customers happily chatting over various conversations. It reminded her that she should get to work.

"Oh, wait," the taller lady vocalized, "there aren't any incoming orders right now. Did you manage to get Menchi's recommendation?"

An awkward smile formed on Relvin's face. "If I did, I would be celebrating right now." Before her employee could express any disappointment, she continued. "However, she did say that the cheesecake I made was… cute."

"You didn't do anything special with the cake, did you?" It was almost as if the gray-haired ghostly woman could read her thoughts. Relvin shaking her head only confirmed this. "Cute, huh? That's a first step. Though next year you should add something distinct to the cake to make it… Gourmet Hunter-like."

"Me?" Relvin asked, with a smirk, "I honestly made that cake in a slight rush. It certainly wasn't my best, and I know I can do better than that."

"I did learn something, though." Alanessa creased a brow. "Everyone there specializes in something, as in a certain subject. Us, on the other hand… We seem to be all over the place, and trying our best to either keep or create some sort of trend."

"Is there a certain style you would like this place to specialize in, then?"

The oranger woman averted eye-contact in deep thought. "…Maybe. It would be much more organized that way, but the only problem is…. I like all the foods."

Alanessa burst into laughter.

"Anyway," interrupted Relvin, who blushed out of embarrassment but recovered quickly, "I say next year we all work on something extraordinary to present to Menchi. Maybe menchi katsu, since she seemed to really like that when someone offered it to her. Surely, that would earn more than just 'cute'."

"Surely!"

Both women laughed, causing some customers to look over their shoulders to see what it was about. Since it wasn't a topic of interest for most of them, their attention spans focused back to their tables once more after about a minute.

"Say, I think we caught that from a certain noblewoman." added Alanessa.

" _Surely_. Now if you excuse me, I have a sink full of dishes to scrub out."

* * *

 **[So basically, a chapter featuring what Menchi and Buhara have possibly been doing (...for the most part)!** **I can see something like this being held for the Gourmet Hunters of the Hunter x Hunter universe. Of course not only limited to only Yorknew, though (much to Menchi's disappointment).** **I deeply apologize if their personalities are off, especially for Menchi. It is even more difficult to work with characters when there is so little information on them. (All we really learned is that Menchi is a Gourmet Hunter, a Single Star-Hunter at a young age, has exquisite taste in food, and cares about food appearances. Oh, and that Buhara likes food.) Menchi seems like a pretty shallow character from what we get about her as well, but we've probably only seen one side of her.**

 **I know I've introduced a whole batch of original characters throughout these past few chapters, but don't worry! I don't plan on kicking most of them to the curb now.**

 **Sorry if there are any errors, blank spaces, or failed explanations at points in the story.** **I admit, I rushed a little with the proofreading process with Thanksgiving being next week (and lots of cooking to do).** **I also apologize if I just went on and on at certain parts (...descriptions of things). I don't know why, but I have a really bad habit of doing that.**

 **Thanks to anyone who has actually read up to this point, and to anyone who reviewed and followed this (lame) story! :D]**


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